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THE WORLD OF LONDON 



(LA SOCIETE DE LONDRES) 






By COUNT PAUL VASILI 



hols you may hold readily in your hand are the most useful, after all 

Dr. Johnson 



NEW YORK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 

1885 



HARPER'S HANDY SERIES, 



Messrs. Harper & Brothers beg leave to announce 
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PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 

The English publishers deem it clue to themselves to state that they 
had entered into an agreement to publish this work without having seen 
any portion of it, and relying on the high reputation of the house from 
which it emanates in France. 

In this agreement, they, however, specially stipulated that they should 
be at liberty to use their judgment and discretion in the suppression of 
any such portion of the contents of the work as they might consider 
objectionable, and in the exercise of this discretion they now frankly 
avow that they have found themselves compelled to omit several pas- 
sages which they can only regard as scandalous, if not libellous. 

Even in this, its confessedly expurgated form, the book may still con- 
tain matter of a character not congenial to English taste; but it must be 
remembered that the work is that of a forciguer giving his views of Lon- 
don Society, and London society is thereby afforded an opportunity of 
seeing itself as it is seen by others. 

Still further expurgations have been made by the American pub- 
lishers. 



PREFACE. 

St. Petersburg, April, 1885. 

My dear young Friend, — I promised you some let- 
ters from London, and here they are, rather sooner than I 
wished to send them, for I did not think of publishing 
them until next autumn. But events are taking place so 
rapidly in England, and I was afraid everything would 
soon be looking so different, that by the action of one of 
those sudden changes which Prince Bismarck describes 
as " the psychological moment," the sketches I was quiet- 
ly finishing at home would be rendered out of date. 

In these letters about London you will not find any- 
thing analogous to the letters on Berlin and Vienna ; for 
those cities have nothing in common with the English 
metropolis. The United Kingdom is different in origin, 
manners, and ideas from the Continental countries, and is 
separated from them by difference of development and by 
special transformations, much more widely than by the 
intervening ocean. 

In London we find a society made up of contrasts; a 
medley of modern ideas and antiquated prejudices, intel- 
lectual advancement and stolid customs, unequalled mate- 
rial progress, and stubborn moral opposition. 



The subject is so complex that to do it justice would j 
require a voluminous work, such as our fathers used to 
write, but which neither you nor I would have time or 
patience to read. 






Paul Vasili. 

[Though the facts in this book come from Count Vasili's personal 
knowledge, observation, and inquiries, all from English sources, he is in- 
debted to the following for some information : 

Some of the remarks on the turf are derived from Lord Cadogan's 
pen ; on the newspapers, from Charles Pebody (" English Journalism ") ; 
on music, from "La Musique au Pays des Brouillards." A few of Jehu 
Junior's portraits have also completed the Count's personal information. 
Three political portraits owe a part of their facts to the clever studies of 
Mr. Frank H.Hill. 1 






CONTENTS 



LETTER PAGE 

I. The Queen 5 

II. The Royal Family 10 

III. The Court . . . . 17 

IV. Her Majesty's Household 2 1 

V. The Household of the Prince of Wales 28 

VI. The Prime-minister 31 

VII. The Ministry 39 

VIII. Parliament — The House ok Commons 49 

IX. The House op Lords . 56 

X. Parliamentary Leaders 63 

XL English Politics C8 

XII. The Irish Question 87 

XIII. The Men of the Day 94 

XIV. Powers in the State 103 

XV. Journals and Journalists 109 

XVI. Literary and Scientific Men 117 

XVII. Painters and their Studios 121 

XVIII. Theatres and Amusements 180 

XIX. Music 133 

XX. The City and the Lord Mayor 136 

XXI. The Middle Class 141 

XXII. Society I 44 

XXIII. Country-houses I 48 

XXIV. The Diplomatic Body 152 

XXV. Sport 1°° 



THE WORLD OF LONDON. 



First Letter. 
the queen. 

On one point all English people are agreed — it is 
that "divinity doth hedge" their Queen. To whatever 
party an Englishman "belongs, he will agree with his most 
vehement opponent in regarding Queen Victoria as a be- 
ing apart from common life. Every good citizen regards 
the Queen with a sort of religious awe, and Royalty, so 
freely discussed in England in its political and adminis- 
trative organization, is sacred in the person who repre- 
sents the essence of power. 

I, who am not an Englishman, and have no reason to 
regard her Majesty Queen Victoria as the representative 
of a divine right, will venture to draw aside the veil of 
the sanctuary, and truthfully depict the woman who is 
hidden behind the prestige of the crown. 

First, let me remark that the Queen as she is, and the 
Queen as she was in the lifetime of the exemplary Prince 
Consort, are two entirely different persons. The former 
had in her husband a guide, a counsellor, the object of 
her devoted attachment ; she had a stately and splendid 
court ; she was clever, charming, gay, light-hearted ; ev- 
erything pleased her, and she was entirely free from pride. 

She had a voice as sweet as a bird's, and sang like one 
in her happy days. Mendelssohn saw this gentle Queen 



6 THE WOKLD OP LONDON. 

putting her drawing-room in order with her own hands, 
and she sang to him with diffidence. Etiquette was then 
limited to the demands of her exalted position ; she was 
full of the tenderness of a young mother; she loved pleas- 
ure, and indulged her taste. She mingled freely with her 
subjects, and shed over the whole nation the sunshine of 
her happiness. She was at that time an extremely ele- 
gant woman. 

The nature of the Queen has been much altered by her 
great grief, and personal acquaintance with her excites 
conflicting feelings. A portrait drawn of her Majesty 
during her lifetime must be in many respects a contradic- 
tion and a paradox. 

Her Majesty Queen Victoria is the daughter of the 
Duke of Kent, the younger brother of William IV. and 
of George IV., neither of whom left direct heirs. 

The British Constitution holds the Queen infallible, 
inviolable, and above the law. She has all rights, abso- 
lutely, but she does not practically exercise them. She 
has to govern through her Ministers. Her Majesty's pri- 
vate life is devoted to the cherished memories of the past. 

She resides at Windsor, at Osborne, or at Balmoral al- 
ternately, and rarely visits the capital. 

The Queen thoroughly understands politics, and is high- 
ly informed. She has been well taught by Sir Robert 
Peel, Lord Russell, Lord Palmerston, Lord Beaconsfield, 
and Mr. Gladstone. Her mind was formed and guided 
by the wisdom and prudence of Prince Albert, and she is a 
competent authority on every subject to which she gives 
her attention. 

Diplomatists and politicians who have opportunities 
of observing them, are struck by the extent of her knowl- 
edge, the clearness of her views, and her wonderful mem- 
ory. 

Queen Victoria is the model of a constitutional sover- 
eign; but she intrusts to the Prince of Wales all the 



THE QUEEN. 7 

representative duties of her position. Her Majesty only- 
gives private receptions to a few official visitors, or to 
persons of distinction on their travels. 

The days are, indeed, far past when the young Queen 
gave garden parties in Buckingham Palace to more than 
six hundred guests; when on rainy afternoons every one 
had to beguile the time by narrating some amusing anec- 
dote ; or when her Majesty, with her hair powdered, ex- 
cited universal admiration at a famous fancy ball by her 
graceful dancing of a minuet; or when she carelessly car- 
ried off the keys of the official despatch-boxes when she 
went for a ride, and lost them on the road, so that a squad 
of policemen had to be sent to search for them, to the 
amusement of all London. There remains but one sole 
trait in the character of the Queen that recalls those for- 
mer days. It is when at the gillies' ball her Majesty ap- 
pears with all her household. 

She is very fond of Scotland and her dear Highlanders; 
the humblest among them are her friends. She treats 
them with kindness, and they return it by affection. There 
everything is familiar to her, from Geldershiel and Glass- 
altshiel glens to the lakes and peaks of Craig Govan. 
There she is interested in everything, delighted at every- 
thing, attached to everything, especially to her two dogs, 
" Sharp " and " Noble." 

Peasants drink to her health by the roadside, and John 
Brown used to answer them with the frank Scotch blunt- 
ness that was a feature in his honest character. As I have 
mentioned his name, I will add a touching detail. When 
John Brown lost his father (a small farmer), the Queen 
went herself to console the poor blind widow, sat beside 
her in her kitchen among the relations of the deceased, 
took part in the prayers and in all the traditional and 
primitive customs of the simple mountaineers, sharing 
their grief as if she had lost a member of her own family. 
Quite lately she attended the funeral of Willie Blair, her 



8 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

old Highland fiddler, who died at ninety years of age, and 
she ordered a monument to be erected to him in the 
churchyard at Crathie. 

The Queen leads a perfectly simple, indeed rustic life, 
at Balmoral; etiquette no longer reigns, but freedom is 
unrestrained. 

Her Majesty is awakened every morning by the bag- 
pipes of her Highlanders. 

The Queen detests smoking, and the practice is strictly 
prohibited at Windsor Castle. 

What would she have said if she had found herself in 
the position of Lady Shaftesbury, who, having taken Gari- 
baldi into her boudoir after dinner, saw him coolly light a 
cigarette as a matter of course, without asking her per- 
mission ? Smokers have no pity, and you are probably 
aware that the Vienna Conference had to be interrupted 
for an hour to allow the French and Turkish ambassadors 
to go out and smoke. 

At great official ceremonies the Queen seldom appears, 
and when she has to make a speech — on presenting colors 
to a regiment, or on decorating some hero — she dislikes 
the exertion extremely. 

When she does consent to show herself to her people,~\i 
she always occupies an open carriage, whatever the weath- 
er may be, so as not to disappoint the faithful subjects 
who have collected to see her. 

The greatest part of the Queen's day is occupied in 
exercise in the open air, driving and walking. 

She receives a few political persons, especially the Prime- 
minister, the Duke of Richmond, her friend and adviser, 
and more frequently still her Secretary, the worthy Gen- 
eral Ponsonby. A Cabinet messenger is despatched to 
her after each Council, even if she is at the far end of 
Scotland, and the Prime-minister's day's work is always 
terminated by a letter to the Queen. When any great 
event or crisis occurs, her time is occupied in receiving 



THE QUEEN. 9 

and despatching telegrams. She reads, works, and writes 
a great deal. 

The musical evenings she used to enjoy with two or 
three friends are things of the past; but if she has given 
up music, she has not entirely abandoned the fine arts. A 
short time ago Mr. Green, the famous water-color painter, 
was summoned to Balmoral to give the Queen lessons in 
drawing, and remained there for some months. At her 
first lesson she said, very simply, as she took up her pencil, 
"I feel so nervous." Although she is a good judge of the 
works of others, the Queen paints and draws only pretty 
well, and her unpretending writings will not shed a great 
lustre upon English literature. Her works are revised by 
Sir Theodore Martin, the well-known author of "The 
Life of the Prince Consort." 

When the Queen wishes to show her sympathy with 
any institution, she presents it with a copy of her "Jour- 
nal of Our Life in the Highlands." 

Of her three royal residences the Queen prefers Bal- 
moral. She has had a cross in memory of the Princess 
Alice and an obelisk to the Prince Consort erected there. 
She is much influenced by the place that she inhabits, and 
is a totally different person at Balmoral and at Windsor. 
At Balmoral she recalls the sweetest memories of her life, 
and again sees in fancy the old building, with its small 
rooms. In the old billiard-room the Queen was constantly 
obliged to rise from her seat to let the players pass. 

I cannot leave the subject of Balmoral without alluding 
to the well-known John Brown, who was both a servant 
and an adviser to his royal mistress. John Brown is dead, 
and the Queen has raised a statue to him under her win- 
dows, and devoted some pages of her second book to his 
memory. To my mind there is something very touching 
in the esteem and confidence bestowed by the sovereign 
upon her faithful servant, whose devotion was a ray of 
light upon her saddened life. 



10 THE WORLD OP LONDON. 



Second Letter. 
the royal family. 

If I were to enumerate the various members of the 
royal family — the children, grandchildren, sons - in - law, 
daughters-in-law, nephews, nieces, and collateral princes 
and princesses — I should bore you as effectually as I 
bored you with the long list of the Austrian archdukes 
in my letters on Vienna. 

The Prince of Wales stands by every right in the first 
place, and no one could fill it better, with a more charm- 
ing presence or a more gallant mien. 

His character is a contrast to that of the genuine Eng- 
lishman. He bears a resemblance to Henry V., as Shake- 
speare depicts that prince. He is fond of pleasure, has 
high spirits, and is interested in everything worthy of in- 
terest. 

If, on the one hand, the Prince of "Wales is a man of a 
former age, he is, on the other, perfectly modern; he is a 
Parisian living in London; he loves the Boulevard, and 
conversation full of wit and repartee, in which he plays 
his part to admiration. 

He is admittedly the finest and first gentleman of the 
United Kingdom, and if he claims, as he is said to do, the 
title of the first gentleman in Europe, that claim, though 
great, is not excessive. 

His courtesy is exquisite, his grace of manner is irre- 
sistible ; he throws himself entirely into the matter that 
for the moment occupies his attention, and makes each 
favored person to whom he speaks believe that he is an 
object of especial consideration. But the future King of 



THE ROYAL FAMILY. 11 

England is chiefly distinguished from many of his coun- 
trymen by his complete freedom from arrogance. 

His friends say that with them he forgets his rank, but 
it is only on the condition that they remember it; and his 
familiarity with others is not theirs with him. 

Possessing perfect tact himself, he never forgives the 
want of it, and knows how to remind those around him of 
what is due to him. One evening while the Prince was 
playing billiards an equerry quietly slipped off, and the 
Prince, leaving him time to undress and go to bed, sud- 
denly affected to observe his absence, and sent for him. 
He is kind-hearted, and incapable of resentment, but at 
the moment of an offence he is severe. It is needless to 
say that the Prince of Wales is the best-dressed man in 
England, and that no fashion is a success unless he in- 
troduces it. He has the rare talent of uniting extreme re- 
finement and simplicity. 

No man in public life works harder than the Prince of 
"Wales. He is constantly receiving deputations, celebrat- 
ing anniversaries, presiding at banquets of all kinds, and 
charities of every description. Condemned to gigantic 
luncheons, monster dinners, and interminable suppers, he 
yet rarely refuses an invitation. He passes a few pleasant 
hours every day at his club, opposite Marlborough House. 
He is interested in every kind of sport, and is one of the 
best shots living. He may indeed be called a virtuoso 
of the gun. He frequently attends the House of Com- 
mons, inaugurates monuments, opens exhibitions, unveils 
statues, and he has laid first stones enough to construct a 
stately edifice. He holds levees, gives official balls, in fact 
bears all the penalties and accepts all the ceremonial tasks 
of royalty. 

Fortunately for the Prince, politics are forbidden by 
the Constitution, for he might have been induced to form 
a personal party, and that must always be a party of in- 
trigue. The Prince has never lent himself to any mani- 



12 THE AV0RLD OF LONDON. 

festation of opinion, and has never been carried away by 
any political current. He attends the meetings of Parlia- 
ment in order to learn, and studies the papers carefully, 
but is satisfied always to remain a spectator. Apart from 
politics, he interests himself warmly in every public move- 
ment, and especially in all social improvements. The con- 
dition of the laboring and poorer classes occupies much of 
his time and thoughts, and he has set a noble example to 
all land-owners by facilitating the sale of land to laborers 
on his own estates. The present farming system in Eng- 
land is so pernicious that it contains the germ of an agra- 
rian revolution. The Prince has the good taste never to 
say, " When I am king," but, " If ever I am king." 

His eldest son, Prince Albert Victor of Wales, is still a 
boy at twenty-one years old. 

This tardy development may, however, be deceptive, 
and the Queen herself observed lately that the Prince of 
Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh were exactly the same 
at his age, and that he reminded her strongly of them. 

The Prince of Wales has had his two sons brought up 
at sea, and they are consequently genuine sailors, ignorant 
of the pleasures of town life. 

The daughters of the Prince are brought up in the most 
simple manner. The three sisters occupy one large bed- 
room, furnished very plainly ; they lead so quiet a life 
that they are still children, although the eldest is seven- 
teen years old. They are constantly with their mother, 
forming a charming group, and a fitting frame for her 
gracious presence. They are very distinguished in man- 
ner, very graceful, and extremely well educated. 

The lives of these five children have been passed in sim- 
plicity that does honor to the good sense of their parents. 

The Princess of Wales, the daughter of the King of 
Denmark, is fascination itself, and is much beloved by all 
classes of English people. 

The Princess, who is amiable, and of a gentle, quiet 



THE ROYAL FAMILY. 13 

nature, is the type of character most admired in Eng- 
land. 

She is a devoted wife and mother; sympathetic with- 
out familiarity; prudent without prudery; dignified with- 
out haughtiness. She was brought up as she is now 
bringing up her own children, with the greatest sim- 
plicity. 

Her love of children, her respect for old people, her 
compassion for the unfortunate, her ready generosity, are 
truly admirable qualities. 

The Princess is an excellent musician; her taste is re- 
fined, she dresses wonderfully well, and always suitably to 
the occasion. Although she is now forty years old, she 
has the secret of perpetual youth. 

She has not inherited the ability of her mother, Queen 
Louise of Denmark ; her intelligence is not striking, and 
she does not cai-e for clever people. 

However, she more than atones for this by the posses- 
sion of a quality rarer than the Phcenix itself — she never 
speaks ill of anybody, therefore she has not an enemy. 
Her most intimate friend is her lady-in-waiting, Miss 
Knollys. 

The Queen's second son, the Duke of Edinburgh, is the 
fiddler of the Court; he was born with an oar in one hand 
and a violin in the other. The Prince has traversed the 
whole world, and enjoyed every kind of pleasure — physi- 
cal, intellectual, and artistic. 

He is a handsome man, but has not the charm of the 
Prince of Wales ; for unlike him — not the only point of 
difference between them — he despises dress and ele- 
gance. 

The Duke of Edinburgh is a true sailor, frank of man- 
ners and blunt of speech. He, is a good shot, and very 
expert at all bodily exercises. He plays the violin to his 
sailors, and at charity concerts, especially in the Albert 
Hall, before a large audience of persons. An amateur 



14 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

orchestra has even been organized for him, and meets ev- 
ery week under the direction of Mr. Mount. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh, the daughter of our Czars, 
suffers from the rather inferior position that she occupies in 
London. She is considered haughty, but she is only proud, 
and she has not been able to accustom herself to English 
manners, although she has made many offers to do so. 

She is very amiable, a very brilliant talker, loves argu- 
ment, and holds her own with skill. With her cleverness 
and information, both far beyond the average, she natu- 
rally disdains foolish and frivolous society, and she has 
succeeded in making her home so bright and attractive 
that her husband gladly stays there. 

The Duke and Duchess have few friends. They are 
not very popular, and live in comparative retirement. 

Count Adlerberg, the secretary to the Russian ambas- 
sador, is almost their only intimate friend. 

The Queen's third son, the Duke of Connaught, repre- 
sents the army, and is much liked in society. In Egypt 
he proved himself to be a good soldier and a great dis- 
ciplinarian, and he had the good taste to sink his rank, 
to submit to orders, to bear the drudgery, and help in 
the roughest work of the campaign, entering intelligently 
into all the requirements of the service, and never allow- 
ing any exception to be made in bis favor. Like all the 
Queen's children, he has musical tastes, and plays the in- 
strument suitable to his profession — the drum. 

The Duke of Connaught will probably one day preside 
at the Horse Guards, which means that he will become 
Commander-in-chief of the army when the Duke of Cam- 
bridge vacates the post. This dignity is always conferred 
on a member of the Royal family, and the Duke of Con- 
naught will be worthy of it. 

There is nothing particular to be said about the Duch- 
ess of Connaught, except that she is very amiable and 
generally liked. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY. 15 

The Queen's fourth son was that lamented Prince Leo- 
pold, who was so prematurely snatched away by death. 

His widow, the Duchess of Albany, a German princess, 
is very fond of the country ; its rural pleasures have 
greater attractions for her than London society. It is 
not possible to call her pretty, but her health is superb, 
and she is so kind and good that everybody likes her in 
spite of her homely ways. 

Princess Christian is an excellent woman, who takes a 
great interest in educational matters. 

The Princess Louise is more artistic than her sisters; 
she is also more self-willed, and has a romantic disposi- 
tion. She is married to the Marquis of Lome, eldest son 
of the Duke of Argyll. 

The Marquis gained much popularity during his five 
years of office in Canada ; he has admirable qualities as a 
governor and statesman. His character is lofty, noble, 
and true ; and his blameless life, his liberal opinions, his 
love of right, his equable and conciliatory temper, and his 
intelligent and disinterested love of work have won golden 
opinions for him from all. 

The Princess Beatrice, the Queen's youngest daughter, 
has artistic tastes, is an excellent musician, and paints 
well. She is well-read, and possesses some literary ability. 
She is about to marry Prince Henry of Battenberg. The 
young Prince is an officer in the Prussian Guards. 

The Queen has given her consent to this marriage only 
on the condition of her daughter remaining near her ; 
apartments are being prepared for the young couple at 
Windsor, and it is said the Queen means to make her new 
son-in-law her private secretary. 

The other princes of the blood royal are, first, the Com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, the Duke of Cambridge, the 
cousin of the Queen. A genuine old soldier, a staunch 
upholder of the Constitution of his country, very jealous 
of his authority, highly competent on all military ques- 



10 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

tions, lie has always been able to bold bis own against 
every minister of war wbo bas tried to subordinate tbe 
Horse Guards to Pall Mall. It must be added, however, 
tbat be is not always consulted, and tbat he is sometimes 
very much surprised to find tbe changes that have been 
made in the army without his knowledge. The Duke of 
Cambridge is popular in society. His sister, the Princess 
Mary, married the Duke of Teck, a son of Duke Alexan- 
der of Wurtemberg and Countess Rhedey, who received 
the title of Countess Hohenstein on her morganatic mar- 
riage. 

The Duke of Teck is a handsome man, a good horse- 
man, and a great favorite in English society. The Duke 
and Duchess have several children. They no longer re- 
side in England. 

The Duchess of Cambridge resides at St. James's Pal- 
ace. This venerable lady reminds one of the witty say- 
ing of Auber, " Vieillir est encore le seul moyen qu'on ait 
trouve de vivre." 

I will pass over in silence tbe son of the ex-King of 
Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland, who lives in Austria, 
and the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 



THE COURT. 17 



Third Letter. 
the COURT. 

Since Prince Albert's death, the Queen having retired 
from the world, the Court gradually dispersed, and a new 
circle was formed round the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

Her Majesty is represented by her children at levees, 
drawing-rooms, and state balls. 

Court etiquette often gives rise to amusing incidents, and 
a good many droll stories might be told, such as that of the 
American who appeared at a levee in a short jacket, yel- 
low waistcoat, and black cravat, having made a bet that 
he would be presented to her Majesty in this unorthodox 
costume. When he was refused admittance, the United 
States Minister, Mr. Dallas, actually took the part of his ec- 
centric countryman, and they both left the Palace in anger. 

Besides the Drawing-room and Levee, which everybody 
who is anybody may attend, there is an inner circle, which 
I will call the Younger Court. This is very select, and 
graced by some rare beauties. 

Except a few parties and little dinners in town, the 
Prince receives principally at Sandringham. In the hunt- 
ing-season about twenty guests at a time are honored by 
invitations, and generally stay for a week. They find 
themselves in a luxurious mansion, surrounded by lovely 
gardens, the very walls smiling with bright welcome, and 
the young and handsome hosts beaming with genial hos- 
pitality. In no home in the kingdom is a guest so sure of 
a gracious reception as at Sandringham. The Princess 
herself conducts the ladies to their rooms, and the Prince 
superintends every detail of his house. 



18 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

Both fulfil their duties with an attention, a kindly care, 
and real anxiety for the welfare of their visitors, that the 
master and mistress of every house, however great or 
however small, would do well to imitate. Among the lit- 
tle things that struck me, I must mention a book in which 
the arrivals and departures of guests, their usual habits, 
special requirements, etc., are entered with the scrupulous 
exactitude of a merchant's ledger. How different from 
most royal residences in Europe ! 

The invitations for the end of autumn are, of course, for 
pheasant and partridge shooting. 

Men who do not shoot accompany the ladies in wag- 
gonettes, and betake themselves to a vast tent erected in 
the grounds for the enjoyment of an elegant luncheon 
with the sportsmen. 

The evenings at Sandringham are devoted to playing 
at cards or at skittles, with pretty little skittles fit for the 
use of ladies. 

Sunday is divided between church going and visiting 
the Prince's zoological garden. It only contains bears 
and dogs, but there are a large number. The Princess is 
very fond of animals, and takes great care of them, feed- 
ing her favorites with her own hands. She is always sur- 
rounded by a number of dogs, and never travels without 
them; the footmen and ladies'-maids have their arms full 
of them, and as some of the animals are always trying to 
escape, they give plenty of trouble. 

A fete, something like the gillies' ball in Scotland, is 
given on the Prince's birthday. All the Royal fam- • 
ily, their attendants, and visitors dance with their serv- 
ants. 

The Prince surrounds himself at Sandringham by re- 
markable people of every kind ; literary men, artists, 
journalists, directors of exhibitions, constructors of rail- 
ways, engineers, inventors, learned men, politicians of ev- 
ery shade of opinion, and clever women — every one who is 



THE COURT. 19 

distinguished in any way, or who has any claim to consid- 
eration, is welcomed to his charming abode. 

From this lively circle all scheming is scrupulously ban- 
ished ; the Princess cannot endure gossip, and at San- 
dringham no one ventures to calumniate his neighbor. 
The least attempt at scandal or insinuation is immediately 
and somewhat impatiently rebuked. 

The Prince has a small circle of intimate friends, his 
habitual guests, and whom he also visits. The principal 
members of this little group are the Duchess of Man- 
chester, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, Lady 
Aylesbury, Lord and Lady Dudley, Lord and Lady Spen- 
cer, Lord and Lady Charles Beresford, Lord and Lady 
Alington, Lord Cadogan, Lord and Lady Dalhousie, Lord 
and Lady Carrington, Lady Lonsdale, Lady Mandeville, 
M. and Mme. de Falbe, the new Lady Londonderry, etc., 
etc. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland possess one of 
the oldest names and largest fortunes in Great Britain. 
They live at Stafford House, a wonderful edifice, copied 
from the Barberini Palace in Rome; its hall and staircase 
are among the artistic curiosities of London. This does 
not, however, imply that the owners are people of artistic 
taste. Nothing can surpass the sumptuous magnificence 
of the fetes given by the Duke and Duchess of Suther- 
land. 

The Duke possesses the most beautiful equipages in 
London, but drives a plain vehicle with one horse. He 
is very " odd," very proud, and supremely indifferent; but 
he enjoys great popularity on account of the sympathy 
that he bestows on the weak and oppressed, and the lib- 
erality with which he gives money for charitable purposes. 
In politics his opinions are Liberal. 

The Duchess, who has been very beautiful, patron- 
izes the Blue Ribbon Army, and holds temperance meet- 
ings in the most beautiful drawing-rooms in the world. 



20 TUE WORLD OF LONDON". 

Lord Spencer, the Viceroy of Ireland, is chiefly distin- 
guished by an astonishing beard — a beard so gigantic 
that his friends think it funny to say he can hide him- I 
self behind it, and say he is not at home. 

Lady Spencer, a perfect type of the grande dame, is 
called "Spencer's Faery Queene" by her Irish admirers. 
She is lively, clever, and amiable; she dresses to perfec- 
tion, wears marvellous jewels, is well-read, and a delight- 
ful talker. 

Gladys, Lady Lonsdale, is one of the loveliest women J 
in London. She takes an interest in everything — arts, j 
science, politics ; surrounds herself with clever people;! 
and, regardless of their rank, admits Bohemians of the j 
pen and pencil. She has taste, some reading, and very 1 
high aspirations — indeed a varnish of all things ; and 1 1 
should no more allow myself to criticise the depth of her 
knowledge than the size of her feet. 

At the moment I write to you, a marriage between 
Lady Lonsdale and Lord De Grey is announced. 

Her rival, Lady Londonderry, is also a beauty, and very 
fascinating, although her haughty manners give offence 
to those who would otherwise be her friends. Lady Lon- 
donderry is an excellent hostess, and takes a great in- 
terest in sport. 

Lady Cadogan is among those women of whom it is 
said, with serene indifference, that they are " perfectly 
charming." Lord Cadogan must appear among the sports- 
men, a role in w T hich he distinguishes himself. At the 
Younger Court he holds a secondary rank. He possesses 
some literary ability. His house is pleasant, he gives 
good dinners, and his invitations are much prized. 

Lady Mandeville cannot be described in negations ; 
her qualities are all of a positive kind, and so much good 
and so much ill is said of her that she becomes inter- 
esting at once. She is clever and pretty, but has no taste 
in dress. She is an American, but has Spanish blood in 



THE COURT. 21 

her veins. She is called " the pretty Lady Mandeville " 
— but she is bewitching rather than pretty. She is a 
good musician, and very intimate with the greatest art- 
ists, especially in Paris. 

Viscount Mandeville, her husband, is the eldest son of 
the Duke of Manchester. Viscount Mandeville has sat 
in Parliament as a Conservative, but the reporters never 
seem to have noticed his presence. He is an excellent 
shot and a good horseman. 

Lord Dudley, of whom more hereafter, went once to 
the House of Lords, on taking his seat, and made a short 
speech. Since then he has been so occupied with foreign 
princes, religion, pictures, social meetings, the opera, etc., 
that he has never found time to re - appear there. He 
has a reputation for munificence, and a gigantic fortune. 

Although paralyzed, Lord Dudley never misses a sin- 
gle representation at the Italian Opera during the season, 
and at his country-houses he receives royal and prince- 
ly guests. He possesses a remarkable gallery of pictures, 
and often lends his house to artists for their concerts.* 

I have never known a more perfect woman than Lady 
Dudley, and I cannot speak of her without emotion. She 
is the petted child of London society. She is supremely 
beautiful, and admired by all who approach her ; but no 
breath has dared to assail her reputation, and she has made 
her home noble and respected. Her devotion to her hus- 
band is sublime ; she has never left him for an hour since 
he has been struck down by illness. With every great 
and noble quality, she has also the more humble ones. 
Her power of organization is wonderful. She is an excel- 
lent manager, and understands business as well as any man. 

The Earl of Dalhousie, commander of the Britannia, 
was a brave sailor, very remarkable on board ship ; but 



* The sudden death of the Earl of Dudley took place while this work 
was in the press. 



22 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

he was so imprudent as to try and turn himself into a 
politician, and even his uprightness and the sincerity of 
his Liberal opinions have been powerless to secure his 
success. He has met with nothing but defeat in the polit- 
ical world. He is a very honorable man, and the worthy 
representative of an illustrious family. Like many other 
philanthropic landlords, Lord Dalhousie has remitted the 
rents of his tenants in times of distress. 

The Countess of Dalhousie is a very beautiful and be- 
witching woman, but she has one great defect : she is 
not natural. All her gestures, all her movements are ar- 
tificial. Her want of tact, a social virtue which means 
keeping one's self in the background, has alienated many 
of her friends. 

Lord Alington, whom his friends call "Bunny," bursts 
into a room like a gust of wind ; he is the life and soul 
of society ; he is gay, happy, sprightly, never without a 
bit of news, quite equal to inventing some if there is 
none to hand, and a capital story - teller. He is an in- 
veterate sportsman, and divides his time between the 
turf, where he has hitherto won neither money nor pop- 
ularity, and the meritorious task of amusing his friends. 
Disraeli called him " the champagne of society." 

Lord and Lady Alington's dinners are the best given in 
London, except those of Lord and Lady Cadogan. The 
Prince of Wales is a frequent guest at these banquets, 
and does honor to them with his heartiest appetite. 

The Duchess of Manchester, who is known as the Duch- 
ess, was universally admitted to be the best-dressed wom- 
an in England, and her taste is certainly unrivalled. She 
has been one of the greatest beauties of the century, and 
well worthy of all the homage rendered her; for to the 
charms of her person she added intellectual powers. The 
few political gatherings she has held, such as the farewell 
dinner to Lord Duff erin, make me regret that she has not a 
political salon: it would be a Court and a Parliament in one. 



THE COURT. 23 

The Duchess is both too prudent and too high-minded 
to speak ill of her neighbor. She excels in making other 
people talk without committing herself. She knows all 
Europe, and if her fortune allowed it, she would have the 
most varied and the most brilliant circle in the whoel world. 

The Duke, her husband, now passes a great part of his 
life in Australia, and is known for the efforts he makes 
to amalgamate all the races of the British Empire. He 
is an ardent politician, with very decided views. 

The Duke borrows his opinions from no one ; they are 
all the offspring of his own mind, and he is wedded to 
them. He is frank, simple, without pride, without affecta- 
tion of any kind, and a pleasant companion. 

I shall conclude this letter with a few words respect- 
ing the Dowager Lady Aylesbury, or, as she is called in 
the English style, Maria, Marchioness of Aylesbury. This 
strange personage, who is much liked by the Princess of 
Wales, and indeed by the whole Court, possesses astound- 
ing energy. She is a human whirlwind, and has discov- 
ered the secret of perpetual motion; in fact, I am not sure 
that she is not to be found in two or three places at once. 
If a party were given without her, I believe she would in- 
stantly expire. She is more original than the great Irving 
and the astonishing Sims Reeves. Yet she is a true, great 
lady, with a kind heart and a generous hand, and much 
beloved. She knows everything and amuses everybody; 
the mere sight of her is enough to drive away low spirits. 

As soon as August begins, Lady Aylesbury has to start 
on the round of visits that fill her engagement-book, and 
for six months she goes from one country-house to an- 
other, bringing life and animation wherever she appears, 
and making herself most welcome. Her seventy - four 
years have in no wise quenched her spirits. 

But I must cease, or I shall fill a whole letter with Lady 
Aylesbury, and you would never stop me, she is so anius- 



THE WORLD OP LONDON. 



Fourth Letter. 

HER MAJESTY'S HOUSEHOLD. 

Inclusive of all the sinecures on the Civil List, nine 
hundred and thirty -one persons (not including domes- 
tics) are attached to the service of Queen Victoria. The 
mere enumeration of their titles is interesting. I will only 
take as a specimen the Lord Chamberlain's department. 
The noble lord is at the head of all the Queen's officers, 
except those belonging to the bedchamber. He has such 
a number of functions that he could not fulfil them if 
he were not provided with a strong staff of subalterns. 

The happy occupier of this post is at present Lord 
Kenmare. Born a courtier and a Catholic, Lord Kenmare 
is devoted to the Court and his creed. In politics he is 
still waiting for his opportunity. Lord Kenmare is an 
agTeeable companion and a good shot, and knows how to 
be dignified when occasion requires. 

The mission of the Vice-chamberlain is to assist the 
Chamberlain, but he transfers this heavy burden to the 
Comptroller of Accounts, who passes it on to an inspect- 
or ; the inspector gets it done by three clerks, aided by 
a number of assistant clerks. After the Chamberlain 
comes the Queen's treasurer and private secretary; the 
latter post is occupied by General Sir Henry Ponsonby, 
who is much liked and greatly respected. His position is 
a delicate and most important one, although its duties are 
accomplished in an unobtrusive manner that deprives 
them of public appreciation. Sir Henry Ponsonby was 
formerly one of Prince Albert's equerries. He is fifty- 
eight years of age, and has been the Queen's secretary for 



HER MAJESTY S HOUSEHOLD. 25 

fifteen years, and for seven the keeper of her privy purse. 
The latter function entails a task on him which he per- 
forms very conscientiously, viz., that of receiving all the 
petitions for relief addressed to her Majesty. About a 
thousand of these are admitted to consideration every 
year. 

It may be said that Sir Henry Ponsonby is a power 
in the State ; his perfect knowledge of the machinery of 
Government, and his not less valuable acquaintance with 
the character of the Queen, her wishes and her opinions, 
the necessity for all matters passing through his hands, 
have created an exceptional position for him, and give 
him great importance with the party in power. His opin- 
ion is always listened to, and he is often consulted about 
the matters to be submitted to the Queen. 

The duties of a master of ceremonies, an assistant mas- 
ter, a marshal, eight aides-de-camp, eight lords-in-waiting, 
assisted by a number of supernumeraries, are to eat the 
Queen's dinners, and to make up a proper number at her 
table. Afterwards come four gentlemen ushers of the 
privy chamber, one black-rod, three gentlemen ushers with 
substitutes, who really do the work, four grooms of the 
privy chamber, who on grand occasions stand on the stair- 
cases or in corridors where the Queen is to pass, eight 
gentlemen ushers, and eight sergeants-at-arms. The Mas- 
ter of Ceremonies, General Sir Francis Seymour, was the 
attendant shadow of Prince Albert, and got the nickname 
of Albertazzi. He is a brave soldier, whose sight was in- 
jured in the Crimea, so that ever since he has worn an 
eye-glass in one eye; this gives a stern appearance to the 
most amiable of men. Sir John Cowell, Master of the 
Queen's Household, is the former tutor of the Duke of 
Edinburgh, a man very much respected, and whom her 
Majesty calls "The Pope." 

There are a crowd of other dignitaries — heralds, body- 
guards, pages, inspectors, the master of the tennis court, 



36 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

the Queen's boatman, the keeper of the swans, the grand 
falconer, etc. The list is so long that I must cut it short 
and hasten to speak of the ladies. 

The ranks of the ladies-in-waiting, ladies of the bed- 
chamber, etc., are recruited from among the noblest fam- 
ilies of the English aristocracy. 

The Mistress of the Robes, whose prerogatives corre- 
spond to those of the Lord Chamberlain, and whose office 
must be conferred by the Government, is now the Duchess 
of Roxburghe, daughter-in-law to the Dowager-duchess, 
who is the Queen's most intimate friend. Afterwards 
come the maids of honor and ladies-in-waiting to her Maj 
esty, her favorites among whom are the Dowager -mar 
chioness of Ely, the Dowager-duchess of Athole, and Jane, 
Lady Churchill. 

The Queen is much attached to the Marchioness of Ely 

The Duchess of Athole, a Scotchwoman, also stands 
high in the Royal favor. 

Lady Churchill, who is a great favorite Avith the Queen, 
is a very distinguished and amiable person. 

I will once more mention the Queen's faithful friend 
and adviser, the Duke of Richmond, for whom she has 
great esteem. In the world the Duke and Duchess are 
not much known, for they mix but little in society; per- 
haps they feel themselves too old-fashioned for the pres- 
ent day. 

One word in conclusion about a strange personage who 
may be seen every day taking his solitary walk in St. 
James's Park, and who believes himself to be the Duke 
of Gloucester. This old gentleman, who looks about 
eighty years of age, is wonderfully like George IV., and 
still wears the costume of that period. He says, with sin- 
cere conviction and the greatest calmness, to anybody 
who will listen to him, that, as Duke of Gloucester, he 
ought to have succeeded William IV., but that, out of 
deference and gallantry, he has ceded his rights to Queen 



HER MAJESTY S HOUSEHOLD. 27 

Victoria. Every year, on the Queen's birthday, he goes 
to Windsor, and some one belonging to the castle gives 
him a dinner in the best hotel of the place, when he drinks 
to the health of her Majesty with a gravity that is at 
once comical- and touching. He is firmly convinced that 
at the death of the Queen he is to ascend the throne. 
It may be, after all, that he has some sort of indirect rela- 
tionship to the royal family. Except for this delusion 
he is perfectly sane, and he is allowed undisputed liberty. 



28 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 



Fifth Letter. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

Among those attached to the household of the Prince of 
Wales I must mention the Marquis of Hamilton. Lady 
Hamilton, whose elegance of manner is proverbial, is es- 
pecially intimate with the Princess of Wales. Lord and 
Lady Suffield are very much respected, and that is all I 
have to say about them. 

Mr. Cockerell, one of the grooms of the bedchamber, is 
a walking encyclopaedia, and a wit whose brilliant jokes 
would make a saint laugh. Four equerries are attached 
to the service of the Prince; two of these are Col. Stanley 
Clarke, who accompanies the Princess of Wales when she 
travels without her husband, and Col. Ellis, erudite in all 
matters of taste. He is consulted on every question of 
improvement, decoration, ornamentation, furniture, hang- 
ings, etc., and is called "the artistic equerry." 

Col. Teesdale was in the Crimea, and gallantly defended 
Kars. Every year, on the anniversary of the siege, his 
health is drunk. 

The fourth equerry is Mr. Wilson, a capital fellow and 
a delightful companion. 

The Master of the Horse, Colonel Kingscote, is distin- 
guished for his taste for agriculture. He is a very hand- 
some man, very distinguished, and very pious. 

His brother-in-law, the Duke of Beaufort, possesses the 
finest stud in England, and shall have a place in my letter 
on sport. 

The Prince's librarian and German secretary, Herr Holz- 
mann, is an earnest, learned man, who seldom speaks; 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE TRINCE OF WALES. 29 

but when he does, he is a most animated and amusing 
talker. 

Mr. Francis Knollys may be called the fag of the 
Prince's household; he has to bear all the discontent and 
ill-humor of those who have not succeeded in getting an 
invitation, or who have been refused some request. As 
private secretary to the Prince, he is supposed to be the 
willing instrument of all omissions and disappointments, 
while, in reality, the Prince keeps his own list, indicates 
the persons to be invited, and controls everything that is 
done in his name. Such a position as that held by Mr. 
Knollys is very difficult ; and although he is goodness, 
kindness, and amiability personified, he has to bear a good 
deal of reproach. 

The Prince has a few friends, among whom Mr. Charles 
Hall, Admiral Sir Harry Keppel, Mr. Christopher Sykes, 
Lord Charles Beresford, and Sir Charles Charrington are 
equally favored. 

Mr. Charles Hall is an excellent lawyer, but not exactly 
a courtier, in spite of his conscientious and persevering 
attempts to transform himself into one. 

The gravest, and, at the same time, the most amusing 
man in the world, is Mr. Christopher Sykes, the Prince's 
best and most faithful friend. His intense earnestness 
in the Jeux innocents, which the royal pair much affect, 
is comical to the last degree, and nothing is so funny as 
his gravity. He is an indispensable person'on every visit- 
ing list, and not to know him would prove that you had 
never set foot in an English drawing-room. He is a great 
favorite with the ladies. He belongs to the best clubs, 
gives exquisite dinners and sumptuous entertainments at 
Doncaster, where his hospitality is unrivalled. If he has 
a defect, it is that he is too perfect a courtier ; but 
that is his nature, and does not, I think, explain his con- 
stant melancholy, for his cordial appreciation by the 
Prince and Princess is well known. 



30 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

Sir Dighton Probyn, comptroller and treasurer to the 
Prince, made a romantic marriage. He went to India, 
leaving behind a lady whom he loved, and when he re- 
turned to England thirty years later he found her faith- 
ful to the memory of her early love, and still willing to 
marry him. He was the first to decorate his house with 
the blue china that has since become so fashionable. He 
is a great sportsman and a perfect Hercules. At the time 
of the Prince's visit to India, a native showing some hos- 
tile intentions, Sir Dighton seized him by the throat -and 
hurled him out of the crowd. 

The Princess of Wales, as I have already said, has Miss 
Knollys for her lady-in-waiting and particular friend. 
Among the other ladies of her household I will only men- 
tion Lady Macclesfield, on account of an anecdote that I 
wish to tell you. When the first child of the Princess 
was expected, preparations had been made at Marlborough 
House, but the event took place rather prematurely while 
the Princess was at Frogmore. She had been out looking 
at the skaters, when she was taken suddenly ill. There 
was neither nurse nor doctor at hand, and Lady Maccles- 
field had to act as both until a doctor was procured from 
Windsor. 

All the Queen's children are fond of the theatre, and 
go there frequently. The Prince and Princess of Wales 
may be said to be the special patrons of the drama, for 
they take much interest in it, and give it their counte- 
nance and support. During a representation the Prince is 
absorbed in the piece. The Princess is less interested, 
and divides her attention between the stage and the house. 



THE PKIME-MINISTER. 31 



Sixth Letter. 
the primeminister. 

In order to form a correct opinion of Mr. Gladstone, 
whom his fanatical admirers have named "the Grand Old 
Man," and the working classes call "the People's Will- 
iam," it is necessary not only to study his remarkable 
character in its successive phases and in the alternations 
of government and opposition, but also to complete one's 
observation by a supplementary judgment of his rival, 
Lord Beaconsfield. It is impossible to speak of the one 
without speaking of the other, and their antagonism, which 
is imputed to party rivalry, really originated in the diver- 
sity of two natures, marked by moral and physical con- 
trasts, which must necessarily have forced them into 
opposite lines of action. 

Lord Beaconsfield, thin, slender, and aristocratic, a sin- 
gle lock of hair on his forehead, his eyes dimmed with 
weariness and thought, his mouth contracted by painful 
struggles and lost illusions, had the languid gait of a man 
whose strength has been exhausted by incessant mental 
activity. Mr. Gladstone, on the contrary, has bold feat- 
ures, a grand, commanding brow, an air of authority, a 
resolute mien ; yet, strange to say, although he is often 
carried away by irresistible impulses, he has not the bold- 
ness of his adversary. His opinions are moderate, his 
j projects prudent. His experience of affairs makes him 
very useful in all questions of home politics. But he has 
no flights of fancy; he follows the march of events and 
looks on at the accomplishment of a fact as a scientific 
man watches the development of a germ, in order to 
3 



32 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 






classify it. In short, he has no creative power. He does 
not direct politics, but submits to them like the mass of 
mankind, and thus he is logically driven to conform to 
the ruling opinion of the nation. He is a genuine oppor- 
tunist, and it has been said of him that he is a mixture 
of Cromwell and Gambetta. 

Mr. Gladstone is not, like Lord Salisbury, the apostle 
of a definite fixed opinion, nor, like Mr. Bright, the ad- 
vocate of change of opinion so soon as a better has been J 
found ; but at heart, and unconsciously, he is governed by 
this latter theory of pure opportunism. He follows the 
stream without ever being above it, like Mr. Bright, or { 
below it, like Lord Salisbury. He excels in giving a leg- 
islative form to the policy adopted by the nation, in estab- i 
Lishing order among complex and multiplied details, and ' 
in producing from them a clear, skilf ully-drawn-up whole, | 
and in getting it accepted by Parliament by dint of his in- 
exhaustible resources of explanation and argument. 

Instead of governing the country by Parliament, he gov- 
erns Parliament by the country. 

He has a great mind, is always eager to learn, capable of 
confessing his past errors with candor, and avowing his 
incompetency in questions that he has not studied ; he 
willingly accepts advice (Stuart Mill was much valued 
by him), and he listens to that of Mr. Bright. He loves 
progress, possesses a certain enthusiasm for humanity, is 
a great partisan of Free -trade, of equality of religions ] 
and sects, of a wide extension of the suffrage and inde- 
pendent voting. He is patient and scrupulous, indefat- 
igable in agitation. In the latter he resembles Gambetta. 
His eloquence is impulsive, grand, powerful, bitter, and j 
merciless to all the errors of his opponents. But all the 
qualities which he displays in opposition seem to vanish 
the moment he assumes power. In grave questions he 
then appears undecided and ambiguous; the extreme flu- 
ency of his speeches cannot conceal the confusion of his 



THE PRIME-MINISTER. 33 

ideas, nor any amount of vehemence cover the real hesi- 
tation of his mind. Very fertile in resources, and always 
ready to vindicate himself, he has the support of the peo- 
ple, but rather from taste and instinctive liking than from 
any well-founded admiration. He has been called a Rev- 
olutionary, but that he is not; and he has also been ac- 
cused, though falsely, of being at the same time a friend 
of the Jesuits and the Internationalists. It has even 
been said that he was a mysterious link between those 
two enemies of Church and State. 

He is an honest man, without any regard for parties, 
uninfluenced by personal considerations. His noble, up- 
right life was formerly rigidly ruled by sincere convic- 
tions; but into the rectitude of his intelligence, into the 
loftiness of his soul, popularity has cast strange elements 
that have diverted him from his original path. Proud and 
irritable, even haughty, too conscious of his own great 
worth, he has gradually fallen into exclusiveness, has be- 
come devoted to system, and intolerant, so that his patri- 
otism, hitherto so pure, has been impaired. 

The rather limited horizon of his ideas would have made 
him the head of a party that was stationary, or only slow- 
ly dragged along by the current of progress. He would 
have been an apostle of calm and abnegation, a resolute 
partisan of social and political economy. This unrivalled 
financier, but a Scotchman — and consequently with nar- 
row views on economic questions — was he really the man 
whom the Liberals should have chosen, and intrusted with 
the vast destinies of their programme? 

His adversaries dispute his right to the title of states- 
man, and assert that his intellectual weight as a scholar 
and a philosopher preponderates over his powers as a 
ruler; that his politics are theoretical, while Lord Bea- 
consfield's were practical; that his success is due to his 
eloquence, his dexterity in Parliamentary conflict, and his 
sympathetic manners. 



34 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

In serious struggles, when his interest or that of his 
party is at stake, he can condense his arguments, usually 
too diffuse, and make a concise speech. When he wants 
to elude a direct reply, few men can wander from the 
point more cleverly than he. With less suhtlety, less 
skill, less power of oratory, many of his mistakes would 
have been avoided. Facility of expression is with him a 
dangerous gift; his language is elevated, majestic, and. 
except in a few rare cases, vague, without precision. It is 
veiled in a kind of cloud that deceives the orator himself 
as well as his audience. He has been sometimes known 
to lose himself in digressions so foreign to the matter in 
hand that he has suddenly taken refuge in arguments fla- 
grantly contradictory of his fundamental doctrines. So 
that he arrives at the demonstration he is seeking, the 
means by which he gets there matter little to him; thus 
his conclusions are sometimes a total inversion of his prop- 
ositions. He has also often injured his own cause, and 
both Lis enemies and his friends are justified in their 
judgment on him. Earl Russell, whom he replaced as 
head of the Liberal party, accused him of having, by his 
foreign policy, " tarnished the national honor, injured the 
national interests, and lowered the national character." 
He is also reproached with never knowing at what reso- 
lution to stop, and with being the dangerous chameleon 
of a party. Many members of that party repudiate his 
policy. 

Lord Beaconsfield was especially pitiless to him, and 
defined him as " a sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with 
the exuberance of his own verbosity, and gifted with an 
egotistical imagination that can at all times command an 
interminable, an inconsistent series of arguments to ma- 
lign his opponents and to glorify himself." It is a curious 
thing that he is generally reproached with the want of 
sagacity of which he accused the French nation in the ar- 
ticles that he wrote during the war of 1870. What can- 



THE PRIME-MINISTER. 35 

not be disputed is his personal worth, his marvellous sci- 
entific acquirements, his profound and skilful writings, 
which place him in the first rank of scholars, thinkers, 
and authors. At twenty-three years of age, after a jour- 
ney in Italy, the first essays that he published were so re- 
markable that they awakened general sympathy and at- 
tention. 

In this portrait many harsh estimates of a man who is 
yet worshipped like a demi-god are reproduced. Let us 
try to disentangle the true faults, amid the rancor and jeal- 
ousy of party. Here comes naturally the chasse-croise of 
the two policies, and of the two ministers who have in 
turn governed England since 1868. In the beginning, the 
present chief of the Whigs was a Tory, and Lord Beacons- 
field, who afterwards became the leader of the Tories, was 
a Liberal. Mr. Gladstone called himself a Conservative, 
but he deceived himself; Liberalism was the very ground- 
work of his character, and in his first writings, full of 
warmth and enthusiasm, it is impossible not to detect the 
inevitableness of a speedy conversion. His companion, 
who travelled with him in Italy, said at the time, "The 
depth of Radicalism that unconsciously exists in this 
young head cannot be doubted." His conversion was 
only the sudden discovery of his true tendencies. 

Can the same be said of Lord Beaconsfield, then simply 
Mr. Disraeli? It must be admitted that it cannot. In the 
middle of an election, seeing that his Liberal candidature 
in Kent was going to be a failure, he boldly went and 
offered himself to the Conservatives of another county. 
The audaciousness of the thing was complete, but Mr. 
Gladstone's adversary never hesitated at any act of au- 
dacity or startling boldness. He then wore long ring- 
lets, and was bedizened with jewellery. Handsome, and a 
"dandy," he pleased the aristocracy by his elegant man- 
ners, and charmed them by his romantic style. Feeling 
himself more at home in this circle, where he was warmly 



36 THE WORLD OF LONDOX. 

welcomed and helped on, he never again quitted it. Mr. 
Disraeli always mingled a little charlatanism with his pol- 
itics, or let us rather say a little romanticism. He made a 
kind of literature which enchanted the foolish and added 
to his prestige by adorning common things with grand 
words. You will remember the sonorous phrase that he 
brought back from the Congress of Berlin, " Peace with 
Honor!" 

Up to this point the advantage is with Mr. Gladstone ; 
let us now enter into the details of the political career of 
the present Prime -minister, and see him at work. His 
political horizon is bounded by the United Kingdom; 
beyond the British Isles he can see nothing. The fa- 
mous doctrine of non-intervention, which for the last for- 
ty years has been preached in Europe, never had a more 
valiant champion than Mr. Gladstone, except, perhaps, 
Louis Philippe. His contempt for foreign policy has 
made him sacrifice the interests of his country abroad. 
He is not an admirer of the colonial power of Great Brit- 
ain — he says so frankly to any one who will listen to him 
— and a few years ago he ventured to write in the Nine- 
teenth Century that " the turn of America had come, and 
that England must resign herself to descend to the level 
of Holland." 

His foreign policy, founded on such principles, was 
bound to be logical; in fact it is summed up in its chief 
features by the loss of the Transvaal and Afghanistan, by 
the strained relations with Europe, estranged by him, and 
by his disastrous campaign in Egypt. All this is indeed 
the work of a non-interventionist, but also of a weak strat- 
egist in the conflict of nations. 

Mr. Gladstone has been more successful in his home 
government. He has skilfully reconciled public needs 
and taxation; he has abolished the disgraceful "pur- 
chase " system that reflected upon the honor of the Brit- 
ish army. He has opposed drunkenness by a law severe- 



THE PRIME-MINISTER. 37 

ly enforced, although still insufficient, on the hours of 
closing public-houses. He sent the Prince of Wales to 
India to soothe the legitimate discontent, and to rekindle 
the sympathies of a people whom his pity, too slowly 
moved, had left to struggle with a terrible famine. 

Ireland owes to him a most equitable measure, the 
disestablishment of a Protestant Church in a Catholic 
country. 

Among the real reforms of Mr. Gladstone may be cited 
the Franchise bills. By giving the right of voting even 
to the lowest strata of the population, and by resting the 
vote on the basis of taxation and of property, he has in- 
fused fresh blood into the effete body of electors. 

His administration has not been always free from ten- 
tative efforts, and here, as elsewhere, there are inconsis- 
tencies to record. He has, therefore, not been spared 
proposed votes of censure. In 1872 he escaped one with 
some difficulty, when the indignant House accused him of 
having violated the laws, and exercised patronage in the 
nomination of Sir Robert Collier to the Judicial Commit- 
tee of the Privy Council. He was accused the following 
month by the Parliament and by the University of vio- 
lating the statutes by appointing the Rev. W. W. Harvey 
to the Rectory of Ewelme. Some of his tergiversations are 
flagrant. After having strongly opposed the admission of 
Jews to Parliament, he strongly supported the bill that 
Lord Russell brought forward a few months later to ad- 
mit them. Shortly after a magnificent discourse in favor 
of liberty of speech, he adjured the House, on the 17th of 
June, 1880, to refuse it to Mr. O'Donnell, who wished to 
put a question to the Government concerning the new 
French Ambassador, M. Challemel-Lacour. How many 
times after having made a vote a Cabinet question has he 
submitted to do without it and to remain in power! 

Unlike Count Bismarck, he does not possess the art of 
ruling men whom he fears, or who may offer some opposi- 



38 THE WOKLD OP LONDON. 

tion to bis policy; so he lulls them into security and de-' 
ceives them. 

Mr. Gladstone may be summed up in a few words. He 
is excellent in home government, but fatal in foreign af- 
fairs. 

With his intimate friends he is a charming talker; he 
listens, and speaks with grace and discretion, and even 
when he has a right to make an assertion on some learned 
question, he does it without pedantry. 

This old man of seventy-five still wields the woodman's 
axe in his moments of leisure, and one of his little vanities, 
often mentioned, is to cut down a tree in the presence 
of his guests at Hawarden. He is frequently presented 
with an axe. 

He is a sturdy pedestrian, thinks little of walking ten 
or twelve miles, and in spite of dynamitards goes about 
the streets of London on foot. A short time ago he was 
nearly run over while helping a blind man to cross Picca- 
dilly. 



THE MINISTRY. 






Seventh Letter. 
the ministry. 

The contention that always existed between Lord Bea- 
consfield and Mr. Gladstone assumed epic proportions at 
certain moments. Rather more than five years ago Loi"d 
Beaconsfield, thinking he held the country in his hand, 
fancied the time well chosen for dissolving Parliament and 
calling a general election. He was so certain of finding 
himself called to the head of affairs for the next seven years 
that he forced that conviction on the minds of two very 
different men, Prince Bismarck and M. Gambetta. 

Two women only, Mme. de Novikoff, in Moscow, and 
Mme. Adam, in Paris, predicted Mr. Gladstone's triumph, 
in spite of his personal doubts. Mme. de Novikoff found- 
ed her opinion on the conviction that the thirty-two seats 
lost by the Liberal party during Mr. Gladstone's last ad- 
ministration could not be definitely lost. Lord Beacons- 
field forgot that in 1874 his victory was due to the fact 
that " beer " and " Bible," that is, the army of publicans, 
and the not less formidable army of sectarians, had made 
common cause with each other. The former yielded to an 
impulse of ill-humor; the latter, tired of the Liberals, who 
had irritated them by the Education Bill and the School 
Board, wanted to try the Conservatives. Mme. Adam, at 
the time of Mr. Gladstone's visit to Paris, said, in a con- 
versation with him at M. Girardin's, that Lord Beacons- 
field would be led to make the election on an Imperial 
question, and that whatever sophistry was employed, Eng- 
land would never understand monarchy except in the roy- 
al form. At the conclusion of this interview, Mme. Adam 



40 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

had a discussion on the same subject with M. Gambetta, 
who was supporting the cause of Lord Beaconslield in the 
Republlque Franpaise, as Prince Bismarck was doing at 
Berlin. 

" You are wrong," said M. Gambetta, " to support Mr. 
Gladstone; he will be beaten to a mummy." 

" I believe in Mr. Gladstone's success," she asserted, 
" and I maintain it in all that I write. Besides, I run 
much less risk with him than you do with Lord Beacons- 
field. If Mr. Gladstone is beaten, I am beaten with a 
Liberal; that is to say, with a friend. If you are beaten 
with Lord Beaconsfield, that is much more serious; for you 
are beaten with an enemy." 

At the moment of the elections a sudden change took 
place in public opinion. Mr. Gladstone aroused the Lib- 
eral North, and carried it along with him. Orators of his 
party devoted themselves to magnifying to the electors 
the errors of the Ministers in power — a very easy task, 
and one that seldom fails of its effect. 

The Tory orators themselves, those who felt the loss of 
their votes, lent their aid. Truths kept secret during the 
sessions of Parliament were disclosed by the malcontents, 
and the Liberals asserted that their enemies, by not con- 
tradicting their assertions, confirmed the truth of them. 
The sores of the State thus laid bare converted a certain 
number of voters, and the Liberals were victorious. 

Lord Beaconsfield died a short time afterwards of grief 
at finding himself abandoned by his party. 

Mr. Gladstone, called to form a Ministry, found himself 
face to face with the bravos who had fought for him, 
and now held out their hand, claiming their share of the 
spoil. The formation of a Cabinet, in presence of the 
avidity of parties, was very difficult. It was necessary to 
satisfy the Centre, the Left, and the Radicals. Sir Charles 
Dilke, the most popular among the Radicals, was thought 
of; but it was perceived that Chamberlain, the Republi- 



THE MINISTRY. 41 

can, an ally of Sir Charles Dilke, bad already been admit- 
ted. Sir Charles Dilke ceded the place, but was brought 
in later, when the Cabinet had progressed so far that sev- 
eral of its members were left behind it. 

These desertions were: the Duke of Argyll, who refused 
his assent to measures tending to injure landed proprie- 
tors ; Mr. Forster, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, who 
would not sanction the Government's purchasing obedi- 
ence to the law ; Mr. Bright, who disagreed with Mr. Glad- 
stone on the Eastern Question. 

The Ministry may be said to be entirely composed 
of men of mark. Lord Beaconsfield nearly always sur- 
rounded himself with incompetent nonentities, who were 
eclipsed by his genius, and who, if they were not able 
assistants, had at least the advantage of being obedient 
auxiliaries. 

Mr. Gladstone, surrounded by men of worth and resolu- 
tion, whom he cannot eject, governed by the necessities 
of parties, driven into a corner by the princes of finance, 
who have their tools even in the ministerial ranks, finds 
both resources and obstacles around him; but, as he is as 
authoritative as his rival, he sometimes comes into conflict 
with persons who refuse to obey him. The first Lord of 
the Treasury, or Prime-minister, is, however, the highest 
expression of the executive power. All the departments 
are under his control — even the nominations made by other 
members of the Cabinet. 

The essence of the Cabinet being Liberal, and the Gov- 
ernment, by the natural force of things, becoming more 
and more democratic, the mind of its members, ruled by 
individualism, resists its chief. 

The struggle for power between the present Prime-min- 
ister and Lord Beaconsfield always turned upon the laws 
of Franchise. In 1857 Mr. Gladstone had proposed a re- 
form, but he took care to formulate it in such a fash- 
ion as not to include factory hands, whose votes were 



42 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

usually acquired by the Conservative party. Disraeli, a 
shrewd politician, beating his adversary with his own 
weapons, proposed to extend the bill, and thus, in a sense, 
made it more Liberal, and gave himself all the honor of 
the reform, while it served the interests of his party. Mr. 
Gladstone has just taken his revenge; to divert attention 
from his unfortunate foreign policy, he has profited by 
the agitation which stirs the masses from one end of Eng- 
land to the other. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is Lord Granville, and 
before speaking of him I must tell you a curious fact. 
In England, just as the First Lord of the Admiralty is 
never an admiral, nor the Secretary of State for War a 
general, so the head of the Foreign Office is never an 
ambassador, and has never represented his country in the 
capitals of Europe. Thus the English Minister, not hav- 
ing any experience acquired on the spot, is ill-acquainted 
with the home politics of other countries. It is true that 
this leaves him more independent, but perhaps it is one 
of the causes of the political egotism with which England 
is reproached. 

Lord Granville is a bond of union between parties, 
which he knows how to conciliate, between the colonies 
and the metropolis, which he has closely united, between 
England and Europe, whose relations he has greatly im- 
proved. He is to be thanked for the cessation of the 
busybody policy of Lord Palmerston, with his mania for 
constant interference, and for having withdrawn into a 
wise reserve. He is a man of the world, even in politics, 
and has been called, " the minister of good manners," the 
" court politician," and the " drawing-room statesman ;" 
he has a gentle, caressing voice that he never raises or 
forces, even when saying the hardest and most cutting 
things; he never takes a combative tone, even to disarm 
or stab an adversary. He uses the weapon of speech with 
affability, almost with solicitude ; he insinuates a sarcasm 



TIIE MINISTRY. 43 

or inflicts a censure with perfect courtesy; no one knows 
better than lie how to oil the machinery of politics, and 
treat difficult affairs with perfect grace. He is a man of 
prompt and decisive action, who can get rid of useless 
obstacles at a blow ; he is just and firm, and to his slow 
patience, nearly allied to genius, he owes his success as 
a diplomatist and as Liberal leader of the Upper House. 
His eloquence is not admirable, nor is his learning ex- 
traordinary, but his conciliatory qualities give him an ex- 
ceptional place wherever he goes. 

Lady Granville is a very great lady. She is seen to the 
greatest advantage on the evenings of the receptions at 
the Foreign Office, when at the top of the grand staircase 
she receives with a stately courtesy thousands of guests, 
for the most part unknown to her. Then she is really 
beautiful, with her grand air, heightened by her official 
position — this statuesque part suits her admirably. 

It is true that Lord Granville is all kindness and gal- 
lantry; he is attentive to every one, and attracts the sym- 
pathies of all ; his exquisite manners, his witty conversa- 
tion, make him as attractive as if he were half a century 
younger. 

Lord Derby, who presides over the destinies of the col- 
onies, owes his position to his immense fortune. He 
cannot be accused of having disturbed the political sit- 
uation by any brilliant feats. He is clever, and works 
very hard; he asserted in 1864 that the Foreign Office 
gave him ten hours' work a day. Since then, to do unto 
himself what, as a Liberal, he desired should be done unto 
other workers, he has shortened his hours of labor and 
has much relaxed his efforts. Lord Derby makes good 
speeches, but they must be read to be appreciated, for 
his voice is inaudible in the Senate. He has good sense, 
and, still more, good luck; for if he had come into office 
at a moment of difficulty he would never have been no- 
ticed. His political career, however, began in 1848, when 



44 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

the people, tired of great men and popular causes, only 
wanted to " rest and be thankful." The public opinion 
accepted this unobtrusive person, who believes in noth- 
ing in particular, and is too prudent and even too timid 
ever to raise a question. If he had come in at any other 
moment, he would not have won the prestige that belongs 
to success in youth. He is a Liberal-Conservative, or, 
rather, a sceptical Conservative become Liberal. The 
steps that he has descended in joining the Opposition for- 
bid his ever mounting the highest rungs of the political 
ladder. The Radicals distrust him, and the moderate 
Liberals prefer Lord Hartington and Lord Granville. He 
can help to increase the popularity of a Liberal Ministry 
if he makes part of it, or help in its downfall if he breaks 
away from it ; but he can never be at the head of it. 
His long intimacy with Bright has always remained an 
inexplicable mystery, unless it is their common passion 
for angling that has united them. Well read, but with- 
out literary tastes, he takes more interest in science than 
in literature. He has an excellent memory, and never for- 
gets a face that he has once seen. He detests talent, and 
ruthlessly tramples on those of his subordinates who dis- 
play any intellectual superiority. His creeds are elastic 
and doubtful ; he smokes and drinks, but he is a bad rider 
and no sportsman. He has declined the Order of the 
Garter. 

The Marquis of Hartington, Minister of War and fut- 
ure Duke of Devonshire, was chosen as leader of the 
Liberals when Mr. Gladstone retired. He has a certain 
influence which then seemed likely to increase, but has 
not done so. His uprightness, his courage in manifesting 
his opinions, give him weight; he will never make a great 
figure. He is not an orator, never excites enthusiasm; he 
lacks humor, never jokes, and in the reports of his speeches 
the stereotyped " laughter " never appears. He uses sin- 
cere and ingenious arguments, but does not succeed in 



THE MINISTRY. 45 

convincing his hearers. His mind is vigorous and honest, 
but his nature is dry and cold. 

In society he is sometimes observed to laugh, but ho 
was not made for the fashionable world, and he does not 
care to make himself agreeable in it. He is recognized 
everywhere by the way he wears his hat, forced down 
over his eyes. 

Sir Charles Dilke is the Gambetta of England: his 
clamorous beginning, his appeals to the Republic, will be 
remembered. But on taking his share of the heavy bur- 
den of power he shook off some of his principles, and of 
his Radicalism has retained only a few advanced opinions 
on agrarian questions, matters of education, and separa- 
tion of Church and State. He made a great noise to 
frighten people, and they were afterwards very much 
obliged to him for having re-assured them. 

A clever politician, a man with real governing power, 
Sir Charles Dilke is one of those men who become great- 
er as they rise, and he will be one of those who make 
England illustrious. He has become very diplomatic, and 
makes evasive answers so cleverly that they are quite 
models in their way. Courteous to his adversaries, fort- 
unate in his undertakings, an advocate of peace, he en- 
joys general esteem. An indefatigable worker in all mat- 
ters of thought, a highly informed man with just views 
and sound judgment, he has written some remarkable 
works, especially " Greater Britain," an unrivalled book 
on the colonies. 

The President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Chamberlain, 
is a Radical Republican of a similar tone to M. Clemen- 
ceau, and Mr. Gladstone has taken him into the Cabinet 
to secure the large majority that he has at his disposal, 
and to flatter an adversary who was more dangerous in 
his place in the House than in the council of the Minis- 
ters. However, in spite of his official position he has not 
feared to ask for an appeal to the people to settle the 



46 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

question of the separation of Church and State. In Par- 
liament he is ill at ease, but before his constituents he 
recovers himself ; and nothing can be more curious, I 
will even say amusing, as it is not of our own country I 
am speaking, than to hear a Minister make revolutionary 
speeches. His programme is brief and definite: univer- 
sal suffrage, equality of electoral districts, remuneration 
of members of Parliament, and disestablishment of the 
Church. Mr. Chamberlain has no political past, and his 
fall may be as sudden as his elevation. He has made 
many enemies while in office ; his Bankruptcy Bill was 
not a success; he has offended the ship-owners, who de- 
test him ; he is an embai'rassment to the Ministry, un- 
popular among the working classes, and looked upon with 
suspicion by members of the Church. 

And yet he is a charming man, very amiable, and much 
liked in society. He loves flowers, and what flowers do 
you suppose ? The most beautiful, the most aristocratic, 
the most rare and costly — orchids ! He cultivates every 
variety at his country-house, and has one of the finest 
collections in Europe. 

The Home Secretary, Sir "W. Vernon Harcourt, a former 
journalist, is known for his articles signed " Historicus," 
which provoked America. He treats his opponents with 
supreme indifference. A decided Liberal, and enjoying a 
certain popularity in Parliament, he has a strong intellect 
and is keen and witty. Very agreeable in society, a liv- 
ing collection of anecdotes, he has a political salon of no 
great importance. 

Lord Selborne, Lord High Chancellor and President of 
the Upper House, is like the poets who live with their 
feet on earth and their head in heaven, a man of exalted 
piety, of austere virtue; his pure disinterestedness in the 
midst of the pettiness and meanness of parties makes him 
resemble Mr. Chamberlain's orchids that grow on the rugged 
bark of trees, and whose bed is made of broken crockery. 



THE MINISTRY. 47 

I have already spoken of Lord Spencer, the Viceroy of 
Ireland. The Irish do justice to his manly qualities, even 
though they resist his policy. lie is an excellent admin- 
istrator and a man of honor. 

Mr. Cbilders, Chancellor of the Exchequer, began by 
being First Lord of the Admiralty, which is a kind of 
trial or apprenticeship for the Ministry. He is put for- 
ward on all grand occasions. He holds himself upright 
and has a very imposing deportment ; he wears a hand- 
some wbite beard. 

Lord Northbrook, First Lord of the Admiralty, recently 
went to India, of which country he once was Viceroy, but 
he did not find any opportunity of distinguishing himself 
there. He belongs to the honorable house of Baring. As 
a Minister there is nothing exceptional about him but his 
receptions. Lord Northbrook is a widower, and Lady 
Emma Baring, his charming daughter, does the honors 
of the Admiralty. 

The new Postmaster-general, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, is an 
excellent speaker — one of the best and strongest cham- 
pions of the Govei-nment, one of the most formidable ad- 
versaries of the Lords because of the justice and cleai'- 
ness of his arguments; but he will not efface the memory 
of Mr. Fawcett, his very clever predecessor. 

Mr. Mundella, Vice-president of the Committee of Coun- 
cil on Education, whose functions closely correspond to 
those of our Minister of Public Instruction, was, as a 
chikl, a poor factory boy, earning three-and-sixpence a 
week; now he is a Minister of merit. His knowledge cer- 
tainly has some gaps in it, but he can take the initiative, 
and has views of his own. His thoughts, sometimes a 
little obscure, have the freshness, the flavor, the healthy 
aroma of a fruit that has not been forced in an artificial 
soil. 

Lastly comes Mr. Trevelyan, the nephew of Macaulay, 
ex-Secretarv of State for Ireland and Chaucellor of the 
4 



48 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

Duchy of Lancaster. In the present Ministry he is the 
type of the man who is always ready. He is prepared at 
any moment to speak with intelligence and authority on 
no matter what suhject. My horoscope of him is that he 
will one day he leader of the Liberals and Prime-minis- 
ter. An active, restless politician, he has a passion for 
work, and his life is not long enough for all his occu- 
pations. He succeeds in everything he touches (except 
in Ireland), and therefore people take advantage of this, 
and overwhelm him with w T ork. Always talking, writing, 
interrogating, moving, running, walking, persuading, or- 
ganizing, this valuable politician, who is not yet forty-six 
years old, writes, reads, makes speeches, indites leaders 
for newspapers, issues manifestoes and addresses, finds 
remedies for everything, and employs all his skill in get- ' 
ting them applied. He supports every bill that tends to 
the suppression of alcoholic drinks. 






PARLIAMENT — THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



Eighth Letter. 

PARLIAMENT— THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

In Parliament the antagonism between Whigs and 
Tories, Liberals and Conservatives, has lost its primitive 
simplicity; the Liberals have produced the Radical party, 
nnd the Conservatives have to reckon with what is called 
the Fourth Party. 

Besides these groups, the two latest of which will one 
day be the most important, the Parliamentary battles of 
the future being bound to take place between the Radi- 
cals and the Fourth Party, there has been growing up in 
Parliament an obstructionist or Irish party. 

The old Tories are disappearing. The former Lord 
Derby was considered to be their last representative, but 
Lord Salisbury may more truly be called the latest sur- 
vivor of that great party. There will always be Con- 
servatives, but there will never be Tories any more. The 
new generation is trying to effect a reconciliation with 
members in the ranks of the enemy, and to form a mixed 
party that may be called Conservative-Liberal, a centre 
which will become a force in the State, and that already 
includes Lord Derby and Lord Sherbrooke among the 
Peers, Mr. Goschen and Mr. Forster in the Commons, and 
a good many dissenters from the extreme of both par- 
ties. 

Lord Randolph Churchill will probably soon join this 
battalion, for he is in opposition to many of his own 
party, and may be inscribed on the evolutionary list as a 
Radical-Conservative. 



50 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

I should not be surprised if he met Sir Charles Dilke 
in this centre party one day ; for being a Radical at the 
outset, but already left behind by the irreconcilables, he 
has wisely planted his tent among the Liberals. 

In this centre the independent members are found, those 
who have a personal ambition, and who do not seek for 
favors. Capitalists and brewers belong to it. Nearly all 
those who sell alcoholic beverages are Conservatives, while 
teetotalers are generally Liberal: beer is Conservative; 
tea, Liberal. 

We also find gravitating towards this centre undecided 
members who are seeking their way, and still hesitate 
between the attractions of the two parties. 

You do not expect me, I imagine, to explain to you 
what separates Liberals from Conservatives. To define 
their limits is quite beyond my power, and I have never 
known an English elector who could explain to me ra- 
tionally why he belonged to one party rather than to the 
other. Liberal does not mean Republican, and many peo- 
ple are Conservative who have nothing to "conserve." 
The more I see of their operations, the less am I able to 
distinguish between them, especially from the views of 
their representatives. There is rather a difference of per- 
sonal opinion and of political antagonism than of ques- 
tions of reform and of true national interest, and the 
proof of this is that the two parties when in power obtain 
identical results. 

If one were to draw up a list of the differences and 
similarities of opinion of Whigs and Tories in the past, 
and the means employed by each for getting up agita- 
tion, earnest methodical England, and the admirable Eng- 
lish Parliamentary system, that so far surpasses all Eu- 
ropean Parliaments, would become subjects of universal 
amusement. English parties are saved from being re- 
garded with ridicule not by the width of the gulf that 
separates them, but by the passion that leading men in- 



PARLIAMENT — THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 51 

'fuse into politics, and the gigantic efforts they make. 
That passion and those efforts inspire the people with the 
idea that the obstacle between the two representative par- 
ties is terribly difficult to clear. 

I understand the feeling of caste in the Conservative 
party, and the interest the aristocracy have in maintain- 
ing their privileges. No doubt they can gain nothing 
by overthrowing the past, and destroying every vestige 
of it; but a Conservative publican appears to me highly 
comical, unless the said publican is the happy but un- 
enviable recipient of electioneering favors. Colonial ex- 
pansion, springing from internal difficulties, and furnish- 
ing a source of coveted employment, makes the basis of 
Tory politics. Liberals are supposed to represent social 
reforms and the democratic part of the nation. 

As I have mentioned the Fourth Party, I must tell you 
what it is. About five years ago, a party of advanced 
young Conservatives constituted and established itself. 
Disgusted by the increasing degeneracy of the old Tory 
party, after the defection of Sir Robert Peel, and irri- 
tated at the oligarchical tyranny of Sir Stafford North- 
cote, Sir Richard Cross, and their associates, Lord Ran- 
dolph Churchill and a few of his friends resolved to throw 
off the yoke. They set energetically to work, traced out 
a line of conduct, and heroically bore the combined at- 
tack of their adversaries and of their furious co-Conserv- 
atives, and gained a victory over Sir Stafford Northcote, 
Mr. Forster, and the Chairman of Committees. At the 
end of the session they had taken up their position ; the 
oligarchy was destroyed; the old Tories had thenceforth 
to reckon with the young ones; the Fourth Party was 
formed. The principal members were Lord Randolph 
Churchill, its creator and leader ; Sir Drummond Wolff, 
a skilful diplomatist ; Mr. Balfour, a hard worker, and the 
resolute champion of property; and Mr. Gorst, an organ- 
izer and a lawyer. Mr. Balfour has lately shown some 



52 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

signs of falling off; but whatever happens, the Conserva- 
tive party of the future has a name: it is called a Con- 
servative Democracy. 

The present Speaker of the House of Commons is the 
son of the great Sir Robert Peel, who brought about the 
abolition of the corn-laws, the first great triumph of free- 
trade. 

Other candidates have been rejected for various rea- 
sons, and Mr. Goschen, who had some chance, refused 
the post of honor in order to preserve his independence. 
Mr. Peel is a moderate Liberal; he had not made himself 
known as a politician, and was not worn out. For nine- 
teen years he has paid unwearied attention to the Secre- 
tary's work of the different ministries, and he is thor- 
oughly acquainted with official business. He is a wise, 
earnest man, without any personal ambition, full of tact 
and energy, and firm without obstinacy. His impartial- 
ity commands respect, and the only reproach that can be 
directed against him resembles praise : it is, that from the 
strength of his convictions, and his perfect independence, 
he is not accommodating, and that he carries firmness to 
the point of disdain for its results. 

Sir Stafford Northcote, the leader of the Conservatives, 
is no longer young, and the moment is approaching when 
he must cede his place. If Mr. Edward Stanhope's health 
permitted, although he is thought too modest, he would 
be designated as the successor of a superannuated chief. 
But a star of the first magnitude is appearing in the Con- 
servative party, Lord George Hamilton. He is thirty-nine 
years of age, and is well thought of by all sections of the 
Conservatives; he is distinguished in manners, but, above 
all, he is the favorite of Lord Salisbury, whose voice is 
predominant in matters regarding the internal organiza- 
tion of the party. In the ranks there is also Sir Hardinge 
S. Giffard, a lawyer of great merit; his talents elevated 
him to the post of Solicitor-general under the late Gov- 



PARLIAMENT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 53 

eminent. I doubt whether he will ever make a states- 
man; but, on the other hand, he is a practical orator, and 
might be chosen. 

There is also Mr. Gibson, but he is an Irishman and a 
lawyer. It is true that Lord Cairns, who was on the point 
of becoming the leader of the Conservative Lords, was also 
a lawyer and an Irishman. Mr. Gibson is still young; he 
is clever and energetic, a man of tact and moderation, 
although every inch a Conservative. Lord Salisbury can 
scarcely surpass him in eloquence, and he has the art of 
rousing enthusiasm. 

The Liberal party, if it were to lose Mr. Gladstone, 
would not lack leaders. The person at present most clear- 
ly designated for that dignity is the Marquis of Harting- 
ton — a faint reflection of his chief. Among the Radicals 
it would not be difficult to replace Mr. Chamberlain, and 
the obstructionists have any number of leaders. 

In the Parliamentary drama many curious scenes are 
enacted: if Liberal malcontents are seen drawing near to 
the Conservatives, more than one Conservative will make 
his court to Mr. Gladstone, to obtain a " shelf " in the 
Upper House; for it is at the suggestion of the Prime- 
minister that the Queen creates peers. On the other 
hand, the strength of the Tories often comes from the 
weakness of the Liberal leaders, who are secretly their 
allies. Mr. Goschen has frequently saved the Conserv- 
atives from themselves. Political evolution is perfectly 
admitted, and most of the politicians who have become 
Prime-ministers have sat on both sides of the House. One 
of the most curious cases of political evolution is that of 
Mr. Marriott, member for Brighton, who, not being able 
to settle himself comfortably on the left, suddenly de- 
clared that he was deserting the Liberal, and going to 
fight under the Conservative banner. He therefore re- 
signed his seat, and presented himself again before his 
constituents; and now comes the extraordinary part of 



54 THE WOliLD OF LONDON. 

the story, the electors had changed their opinions with 
him, and they re-elected him. 

Another Parliamentary curiosity is patronage. A patron 
recruits volunteers, and attaches them to himself by pay- 
ing the expenses of their election, and their votes then 
belong to him. The late Earl Fitz -William commanded 
fifteen of these mercenaries. 

Among the Irish obstructionists, some look upon the 
position of a member of Parliament as lucrative; for, 
having settled the question of emoluments in their own 
favor, they receive a salary from their constituents. 
This explains why Mr. Parnell is assailed by the offer of 
service from so many aspirants to membership, and these 
requests are not made only by patriots of the "sister isle," 
but frequently also by Radical cockneys. This is not at 
all displeasing to Mr. Parnell ; he considers their assist- 
ance less dangerous to the Irish cause than that of the 
red-hot politicians of his own country. 

I have already described Mr. Gladstone's attitude in 
Parliament; his eloquence does not always carry by main 
force the bills that he presents, and when he is not fol- 
lowed in a question, his adversaries, and even his friends, 
show him no pity. But an adverse vote scarcely seems to 
touch him. In the sittings of the 26th and 27th of April, 
1883, he was beaten over and over again by a powerful 
majority; but this did not disturb him at all. On the 12th 
of May, 1882, he even sustained a total defeat, after hav- 
ing threatened to dissolve the House; but when beaten 
and driven into a corner about the dissolution, he put it 
off and resigned himself to the facts. 

He leaves his colleagues the initiative in their several 
departments, but in general politics he directs them abso- 
lutely. 

The labors of the English Parliament are very severe; 
two hours of each sitting are wasted in questions asked 
by members who are longing to read their own names 



PARLIAMENT — THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 55 

next morning in the local newspaper, and want to prove 
to their constituents that they are something more than 
voting machines. 

This Government has been almost entirely occupied 
with Ireland and Egypt. A whole session was devoted 
to the Irish Land Bill; another was taken up by the Bill 
on Electoral Reform ; and probably the whole of the pres- 
ent year will not suffice for the Redistribution of Seats 
Bill. 

Side by side with these bills there are always laws in 
suspense that have been presented every session for an in- 
definite period. Such, for example, is the "Deceased 
Wife's Sister Bill." It would be idle to enumerate all the 
projected laws that are waiting for the sanction of Par- 
liament, from the decimal system and woman's suffrage 
to municipal reform and a bill on the navy; but the most 
urgent of all, and the one that would most expedite the 
solution of the others, would be the reform of Parliament 
itself, for in its present condition its operation is almost 
paralyzed. An amusing bill, brought forward at least 
once a year, is for the abolition of the grating in front of 
the ladies' gallery. Parliamentary debates being private, 
and "strangers" having no right to be present, a member 
can always have a gallery cleared by calling the attention 
of the Speaker to the fact that there are " strangers " pres- 
ent. In order not to subject the ladies' gallery to this it 
was hidden by a grating. Once more, by 131 votes against 
15, the House has rejected the bill. This arrangement 
only exists in the House of Commons; the Lords are not 
so easily agitated by the sight of fair faces. I will mention 
the customary white-bait dinner which every year brings 
the members of Parliament to Greenwich at the close of 
the summer session. At this dinner arose the symbolic 
custom of giving a wooden spoon to the minister who, 
during the year, had been involved in the fewest divisions 
in the House of Commons. 



56 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 



Ninth Letter. 
the house of lords. 

If you have observed the conflict that arose last year 
between the House of Lords and the House of Commons, 
you are aware that nothing could exceed the unpopularity 
of the former. Public feeling amounted almost to exas- 
peration, and for a time the cry threatened to be, "Down 
with the House of Lords !" All opposition offered by the 
House of Lords to the House of Commons assumes, as you 
can easily understand, irritating proportions; for their con- 
flicts are not questions of vulgar matters, of the balance of 
the Budget, the imposition of taxes, the voting of supply, 
etc. The Lower House decides all that in its own right, 
and even makes and unmakes ministries. The function of 
the Upper House is therefore limited to the accepting or 
rejecting of laws passed by the House of Commons ; but 
these are vital organic questions which concern the inter- 
est of classes and provoke the most violent party strife. 

Once more, the accusation was brought against the Lords 
by the majority of English people, " They have learned 
nothing, and forgotten nothing." How could they forget, 
in rejecting the bill for electoral reform, that an analo- 
gous situation had led to revolt in 1831? Then they were 
pursued and insulted, stones were thrown at their car- 
riages, their lives were in danger, and they were obliged 
to capitulate. The same spirit was aroused this time, but 
with the difference that meetings where the voices of ora- 
tors, a more terrible weapon than stones, instead of strik- 
ing at their persons, aimed at the very principle of their 
political existence, took the place of uproar and violence. 



THE IIOUSK OF LORDS. 57 

The Lords are at once an hereditary assembly and a 
body of great landed proprietors, who share the soil of 
England between them. Does not the very formula 
I hereditary assembly " imply a primary abuse ? The 
son of a great legislator is not necessarily a great leg- 
islator, any more than the son of an orator is an orator, 
or the child of any other great man is an inheritor of his 
genius. Even in ordinary learned professions the trans- 
mission of peculiar talent is rarely hereditary. A voca- 
tion is seldom transmissible; and however clever a poli- 
tician may be, however mighty a sovereign, they cannot 
cast the brain of their offspring into the same mould. 
Heredity is, therefore, a source of Aveakness, for it opens 
the doors of an assembly that should be the temple of 
wisdom, justice, and right, where laws become vital forces, 
to mediocrity and to incapacity. 

The agrarian question arising from the monopoly of 
the land tenure leads to still greater evils than heredity. 
The remedy for pauperism, and for most of the social 
problems, is in the hands of the Lords, just as revolution, 
that weapon of the people, is in the hands of the masses. 
And it may be predicted with certainty, that if a revolu- 
tion ever takes place in England it will not be a political 
one. Public opinion, and the means of agitation pos- 
sessed by the people, are powerful enough to overthrow a 
ministry or to secure a dissolution of the House of Com- 
mons. But the imminent revolution, and one that would 
look like legitimate vengeance, is agrarian. 

"Who cannot perceive the danger incurred by society at 
large from an assembly of legislators who have the right 
to reject every law of reform concerning property ? But 
it would take a volume to make you understand how im- 
portant this right of rejecting laws becomes in the hands 
of the Lords. The existence and not only the preroga- 
tives of the English aristocracy rest on the possession of 
land, and on the seigneurial authority it gives over all 



58 TIIE AVORLD OF LONDON. 

who are supported by the land. Every agrarian law is 
therefore a menace to them, perhaps even a sentence of 
death, and yet it is from them that the sanction of such a 
law is expected! 

The opposition of the Lords to the Franchise Bill was 
only logical; for the vote, by giving a share of power to 
the lower classes, puts into their hands legal weapons for 
the destruction of the privileges of the aristocracy. The 
Lords — and how could anything else be expected? — rep- 
resent only their own interests, in entire opposition to 
those of the people. All progress is for them a terror and 
a danger ; they therefore constantly oppose it, and have 
kept back the march of progress in the sense of reforms 
for at least a hundred years. 

Most of the members of the House of Peers know noth- 
ing of public affairs, and only come down to the House 
when it is a question of rejecting in a body some law that 
has been proposed. The condition of Ireland is largely 
due to the Lords. In 1843 and 1854 the Lords opposed all 
the agrarian laws brought forward in favor of that coun- 
try, and they have pursued the same policy ever since, 
mercilessly rejecting all that injured their personal inter- 
est, and, worse still, affected their prejudices and their in- 
tolerance. Nothing is ever got from them but capitu- 
lation; never one of those grand acts that do honor to 
an assembly, that make a body illustrious, and spare a 
nation the shocks which endanger not only its physical 
but its moral existence. Formerly when a law passed 
the House of Commons the question used to be, " What 
will the Lords do?" Now it is only asked, "What shall 
we do with the Lords ?" Has this ancient, noble, and 
powerful English aristocracy exhausted all its powers of 
resistance ? Will it put itself in opposition to the force 
of democratic feeling, or will it show true greatness, as the 
nobles did in the early days of the French Revolution, or 
as our Russian aristocracy did at the time of the emanci- 



THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 59 

pation of the serfs ? Will it be wise and disinterested 
enough to accept progress rather than wait and have the 
concession wrung from it ? 

The House of Lords has time for reflection ; for the 
palace where it sits will not fall down at the sound of the 
popular trumpets so easily as the walls of Jericho fell. 

Titles exercise in England a fascination quite unknown 
elsewhere. At great festivals the poorest people assem- 
ble in crowds to watch all the wealth and luxury pass by, 
and many a foreigner, like myself, who has been tempted 
to speak to some ragged individual, has received the proud 
reply, " These are our Lords." 

This weakness for a title is such that the politics of a 
vacillating enemy can readily be settled by the promise of 
a peerage. Three hundred and two baronetcies have been 
created since 1830, and two hundred and twenty-five were 
given to Liberals as a reward for their change of party- 
In 1831 the agitation against the House of Lords had de- 
creed its downfall. The noble Peers were not the first 
nor will they be the last who preferred to submit rather 
than resign. This time the conflict of public opinion 
against the Lords has assumed a form, become a society, 
and taken a threatening name — that of the "National 
League for the Abolition of the Hereditary House." At 
the head of this league are some determined men, Sir Wil- 
frid Lawson, Labouchere, Burt, and many others ; but so 
long as the Government has at its head men like Har- 
tington, Harcourt, Granville, and Derby, the Peers may 
continue to look down upon the people from the heights 
of their haughty security. "Where we are," they say, 
" we see the masses as if from a balloon, and they look 
very small " — a figure of speech that the people have 
been quick to use in a contrary sense, for they assert 
that seen from below the balloon looks smaller still. 

"If the days of the House of Lords are not yet numbered, 
its years most decidedly are. It is an ancient edifice that 



60 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

rests only upon the shifting sands of privilege and of 
class interests; and as slight storms have already made it 
shake and tremble, a tempest will completely overthrow it. 

When a member of the House of Commons passes to 
the Upper House, whether from his new surroundings, or 
from the extreme honor, or from the indifference of a sat- 
isfied ambition, he inevitably loses any talent he has pre- 
viously possessed. Thus Mr. Robert Lowe, a weighty or- 
ator in the Commons, became Lord Sherbrooke, and hr.s 
forever after held his peace in the House of Lords. 

The presidency belongs by right to the Lord-chancel- 
lor ; but he has not the power of the Speaker of the House 
of Commons, he is only an ornamental decoration. Seat- 
ed on the wool-sack, dressed up like a figure in a puppet- 
show, with a long, grotesque wig, he is the only Minister 
who must necessarily be a member of the Upper House. 
Unless they are peers, the other ministers can only enter 
it as visitors. Is it not strange that even the President 
of the Council, even a Minister of Agriculture, interested 
in an agrarian question, may not come and make the voice 
of the Government heard outside the assembly to which 
they belong? 

I will mention a few of the most interesting among the 
Lords. 

The Duke of Argyll, a Scotchman, fills his exalted po- 
sition in the Upper House, in society, and in the world of 
literature brilliantly. He does not speak in the House, 
he preaches, and gives a strong Scottish tone to all his dis- 
courses. But in literature the fighting -cock element in 
him asserts itself; he is always ready for combat, and 
rushes to the attack at the slightest provocation. He 
makes war on other people's works, but does not produce 
many himself. He is a Presbyterian, and may even be 
called a theologian. He has a cultivated, active, inquir- 
ing mind, with great strength of character, but with a 
polemical disposition that he sedulously cultivates. Lord 



THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 61 

Granville and he are at the head of the Liberal party of 
the Upper House. The Duke is also the father-in-law of 
Princess Louise. 

The Duke of Richmond is a handsome man, sixty-one 
years of age, simple and unaffected, without pride, with 
a bright, genial face and pleasant manners, very frank 
and distinguished, a grand seigneur, but very obstinate in 
his opinions. 

Those who meet him in the country might easily be 
misled by appearances to take him for some good, hon- 
est farmer; but he is one of the grandest persons of 
the British aristocracy, and the friend and adviser of the 
Queen. He possesses a baronetcy, an earldom, two duch- 
ies, the title of Hereditary Constable of the castle of In- 
verness, etc., etc. A man of high principle, and impartial 
in his judgment, he was chosen as leader to the Conserva- 
tives, but was found too prudent. He is, in fact, more 
moderate and less hasty than Lord Salisbury. 

Lord Cairns, formerly Lord Chancellor, who has just 
died, was a very religious man, like his successor. 

The Marquis of Ripon has just come back from India, 
and resumed his place in the House of Lords. With Lord 
Northbrook and Lord Lytton, he makes the third ex-Vice- 
roy now sitting there. 

Lord Shaftesbury's long life has been passed in en- 
deavoring to ameliorate the condition of the working 
classes. He is a staunch defender of the Church. He 
has declared in the House that he might be called "a 
man who has never been influenced by party motives." 

The Duke of Norfolk, a descendant of a royal line and 
Hereditary Earl Marshal, is chiefly remarkable for his 
open desertion of the Liberal party on account of the 
agricultural laws proposed by Mr. Gladstone. 

Lord Hampden, formerly Sir Henry Brand and for 
many years Speaker of the House of Commons, is a mod- 
el of honor and impartiality; no one was ever better fit- 



62 THE WOULD OF LONDON". 

ted to exercise the authority that rightly belongs to a 
great character and a great position. He had no ene- 
mies, although he was the terror of unruly members. 
When last year he resigned and was made a Peer, the 
House voted him as a recognition of his long services a 
pension of £4000 a year. 

Among the extraordinary Peers is Lord Tennyson, the 
Poet-laureate. 

But I must stop, although there are many interesting 
figures among these noble lords. We shall meet them 
elsewhere, in society and amid their sports, so I will con- 
clude this letter with the Duke of Westminster. He is 
the possessor of such a fortune that a large family could 
live for a year on his income for a day. 



PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS. 



Tenth Letter. 

PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS. 

Lord Salisbury is one of the most interesting and 
striking figures in the present political world, and bis 
struggle against all the tendencies of the time inspires a 
certain curiosity mingled with respect. He has, in the 
highest sense of the term, a sort of Don Quixotism that 
makes this great Conservative leader seem like a giant 
of olden times, valiant and bold. He is constantly striv- 
ing against democracy, although he knows perfectly well 
that it must be victorious in the end, and so he appears 
to be a warrior fighting for honor only. Sarcastic, bitter, 
and haughty, never compromising the convictions which 
exclude him from the chance of power, he is well fitted to 
be at the head of a party of resistance. But how he 
must suffer at having such a limited sphere of action, at 
being only the head of a coterie when his stature is that 
of the chief of a counter revolution ? If he had not to 
struggle against Radicalism, the vulture of this modern 
Prometheus; if monarchy, which is his faith, were never 
in danger, he might make a wise and benevolent Minister 
of a despotic Government. His great integrity, his con- 
tempt for all compromise, all accommodation, gives him 
a sort of frankness that is almost cynical. He sees the 
danger and denies it; he conceives the remedy and re- 
jects it; and he would bring everything into court rather 
than submit to a solution imposed by events. The Lords 
applaud his severely just criticisms, his attacks upon the 
Ministry, whose errors he pitilessly exposes, but if he 
were in power he would certainly do worse than they 
5 



64 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

have done. He carries on the tradition of resistance and 
rivalry that made Wellington struggle against Grey, Peel 
against Russell, Disraeli against Gladstone. There is not 
a Conservative more conservative than he. An enemy 
to all the tendencies of modern society, always throwing 
himself into the breach, he is the champion of existing in- 
stitutions, not because he thinks them just or reasonable, 
but simply because they exist ; this is his favorite argu- 
ment. Possessing an analytical and profound mind, and 
a style formed by great literary research, he forms his 
sentences finely; but he is so true, so sincere, that he con- 
stantly escapes from these artificial forms, and yielding 
to the impulse of his nature, pours forth his invective and 
his sarcasm, unpolished and unmitigated. 

Having a horror of the French Revolution, and insist- 
ing that England is great because she has resisted revo- 
lutionary ideas, he refuses to see that what has saved his 
country from modern calamities is not the obstinacy be- 
hind which he intrenches himself, but the timely conces- 
sions made by his predecessors. 

Out of Parliament Lord Salisbury is a perfect man of 
the world, and his political salon is eagerly frequented. 
He receives much, but always a set chosen by himself and 
belonging to the highest society. He has two country- 
houses, one near Dieppe and the other at Hatfield, where, 
like the Prince of Wales, he gives garden parties. 

Among the Liberal leaders of the Upper House is Lord 
Granville, whom I have already mentioned to you among 
the Ministers. In the House of Commons Sir Stafford 
Northcote and Lord Randolph Churchill are the Conserv- 
ative leaders ; among those of the Liberals are sevei'al 
members of the present Ministry and the great orator 
John Bright, who, without being an acknowledged leader, 
must certainly be mentioned. Sir Stafford Northcote, the 
chief of the Conservative party in the House of Commons, 
is a colorless politician, with a great knowledge of busi- 



PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS. 65 

ness and of parliamentary formalities, who commands the 
respect of his colleagues and the esteem of his opponents, 
but excites the enthusiasm of neither. A conscientious 
man, he fulfils his duties towards his party, and is happy 
when they accord with his duties as a citizen. He has 
some qualities as a statesman, but he is not an orator. 
He cannot, like Lord Salisbury, find opportunities for elo- 
quence in the chances of debate. 

No one understands the value of compromise better 
than Sir Stafford Northcote. He is not a great man, but 
he is a gentleman, kindly, sensible, and of sound judgment. 
A high sense of honor rules all his actions, and his word is 
sacred. In spite of a few errors, his political career is dis- 
tinguished and honorable. 

Lord Randolph Churchill belongs to the celebrated 
Marlborough family. At first sight there is nothing 
striking about him, but so soon as he speaks, his ener- 
gy is displayed in his countenance and in all his move- 
ments. 

Although he is only thirty-five years of age, Lord Ran- 
dolph Churchill seems to have all the knowledge that can 
be lent by audacity. 

I like to see him standing like a classic hero, provoking, 
threatening, and insulting the august assembly of the Com- 
mons. He has broad views and is ambitious. If he be 
not beaten early in the fight, he has a great future before 
him. It is only his delicate health that can banish him 
from the arena of politics. A passionate but not a vul- 
gar speaker, he has, when he condescends to use it, great 
ability. He is a gay and pleasant companion, an excel- 
lent friend, a faithful brother, and much liked in his own 
circle. His wife is a pretty American. 

The adversaries of Lord Randolph Churchill have re- 
fused to regard him as a serious politician, and have even 
called him an obstructionist; but in the eyes of the gov- 
erning party opposition readily becomes obstruction. He 



66 • THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

is also accused of objecting to everything, of being fac- 
tious; but if be sometimes irritates from tbe strength of 
his language, his talent, his skill as a speaker, his observa- 
tion, and his advice command attention. He is not ex- 
clusive, and has often supported his opponents, Sir Cbarles 
Dilke, Mr. Labouckere, and even Mr. Parnell. Indeed he 
is well acquainted with the affairs of Ireland. He has just 
brought forward a question upon the reform of the staff 
in ministerial establishments, asserting that the Foreign 
Office is a nest of idlers, the War Office a refuge for fools, 
the Admiralty a herd of incapables, and the employes in 
general an army of impotent men all too well paid. Will 
he remember this when he is a Minister ? as, in spite of 
his opposition to Lord Salisbury, he certainly will be in 
the first Conservative Cabinet. 

John Bright is not the leader of a clique, but one of 
the greatest leaders of public opinion. The member for 
Birmingham, the Lancashire Quaker, the great manufact- 
urer, now seventy-three years of age, is one of the great- 
est figures in the political world. No man has ever been 
more calumniated, but neither has any man ever been more 
praised, more beloved. He has been at once the scape- 
goat and the idol of his countrymen. His leonine head, 
his noble and imposing appearance, attract immediate at- 
tention; his movements are quick and decisive, his glance 
is keen and prompt. He is acknowledged even by his en- 
emies to be a politician of the first rank, and the House 
fills at once if he is going to speak. He begins hesitat- 
ingly and in a conversational tone, but gradually becomes 
animated, as if inspired by the sound of his own voice. 
A practical man, he makes others see what is so clear to 
himself; a clever and eloquent orator, his diction is very 
correct, though he does not make phrases; and his reso- 
nant voice, his grand manner, his choice of fitting words, 
his tact in graduating the effect, his convincing logic, his 
sagacity, his good sense, his humor, his presence of mind, 



PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS. 67 

his heartiness, his outbursts of contempt and indignation, 
all contribute to make an exceptional man of him who 
rules other men by virtue of his own unequalled merit. 
He is always master of himself, does not borrow trite quo- 
tations from Latin authors, but if he makes one at all, 
takes it from English literature, which he has entirely mas- 
tered. His speeches have a vague flavor of Puritanism; 
sometimes he allows himself to hide his moderation under 
apparent violence, but the precision of his thought brings 
him back to his own simple expressions. Gifted with ex- 
treme penetration, and fertile in resources, if he had cre- 
ated a Cabinet it would have been a hard-working Cabinet; 
and the Radical tendencies that are imputed to him would 
have been tempered by the marvellous judgment that al- 
ways enables him to find the key to a situation, the solu- 
tion of a difficulty. As a member of Mr. Gladstone's 
Cabinet he was somewhat thrown into the shade, and was 
an ornament to the Ministry rather than the life and soul 
of it. He was offered a seat in the Cabinet because he is 
a power in the country, and commands an immense num- 
ber of votes; many other posts have been offered him, 
but he has no love of power, and there can be no greater 
error than to look upon him as a demagogue, as some peo- 
ple do, and to assert that he sympathizes with revolution- 
ists. His name is connected with the abolition of the corn- 
laws and church rates, and Avith the Hindoo policy. He 
averted war with America by getting the Alabama ques- 
tion settled by arbitration, and he is an advocate for the 
Channel tunnel. 



THE WORLD OF LONDOX. 



Eleventh Letter. 
english politics. 

No. 1.— Home Politics. 
The English have an invincible belief in their national 
supremacy, a blind faith in the superiority of their Consti- 
tution They like to make a parade of their power abroad 
and their liberty at home. No doubt England as a na- 
tion, benefiting by her insular position, free from trouble- 
some neighbors, does escape the constantly arising dan- 
gers that threaten Continental countries at every moment- 
but has she not to fear certain social disturbances within 
her boundaries which may prove the more serious because 
they have not the natural outlet of frontiers ? 

England has preserved her aristocratic omnipotence 
while most European countries have been gradually trans- 
formed by democracy; but will not the natural expansion 
of things. soon try England by a force that seems defi- 
nitely incompressible? Has the old edifice of the Con- 
stitution a sufficiently firm basis in the aristocracy to re- 
sist the pressure of the mob? This is a grave question 
which 1 cannot undertake to answer. 

In England the cracks of the Constitution have been 
plastered over by a few Liberal laws; but from certain 
signs, and since the people prove themselves to be capable 
of disputing, and yet respecting the laws, it is evident 
that they will one day throw off the tyranny imposed on 
pub he opinion by the old English formula, "an establish- 
ed thing is a sacred thing." 

The free English nation has more than once proved its 



ENGLISH POLITICS. G9 

political strength by its spirit of sacrifice and obedience. 
Without this its selfishness would have destroyed liberty. 

The English people reason, they listen to the teachers 
of progress, they are educating themselves slowly and 
surely, and the qualities they are acquiring, added to 
those they already possess, may one day tell with a deci- 
sive weight in the downfall of worn-out institutions. What 
makes the strength and the constitutional safety of Eng- 
land is, that the will of the nation is more powerful than 
that of parties, and when this will, now supported only 
by the middle class, by merchants and manufacturers, is 
supported by the entire mass of the people, the aristoc- 
racy, which has hitherto been a bulwark against revolu- 
tion, will learn the truth that a nation belongs to itself, 
and not to a sovereign or to a privileged class. 

When I read the speeches of politicians delivered in 
obscure villages, it is evident to me that the established 
authority is in that transition state which makes it neces- 
sary to consider and conciliate the people, because they 
are becoming formidable, to it. Men of note have already 
uttered the word — Republic, and the English, the most 
law-abiding people in the world, are exactly fitted to re- 
alize the model of that form of government whose only 
ideal superior is the ideal of the law. 

The aristocracy, the so-called bulwark of the Constitu- 
tion, but in truth the fortress of its own interests only, 
completely nullifies that liberty of which the English peo- 
ple are so proud, rendering it a disguised form of serf- 
dom? The aristocracy remains at the head of all the 
great State manifestations, it accepts or rejects laws in 
the House of Lords, and two-thirds of the soil, as well as 
all titles and dignities worth having, belong to it. 

The people, it is true, have many liberties on paper, but 
they are fictitious, and will never be true and substantial 
so long as they depend upon the aristocracy. Thus, for 
example, a workman may offer himself as a member of 



70 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

Parliament, but his want of money practically places an 
insuperable barrier in the way of his ambition, for votes 
are bought in spite of the ballot, and every election costs 
a little fortune. 

Nothing is more easy than to evade the Corrupt Prac- 
tices Bill; electoral corruption can be practised in a hun- 
dred ways, and under skilfully disguised forms. 

Another insurmountable obstacle to poor candidates 
and one that effectually excludes a working-man from the 
House, is the non-payment of members of Parliament 

1 he sale of commissions has been stopped, and the paid 
soldiers who compose the voluntarily recruited army of 
(Treat Britain may henceforth aspire to the honors of 
high command. There again, however, facts bar the road 
to fortuneless men: commissions are given to the young- 
er sons of good families, for those persons must be placed 
either m the Army, the Navy, the Civil Service, or the 
Church— natural resources for all aristocrats without fort- 
une, whatever may be their aptitude or capacity. The 
ordinary soldier, therefore, can only get on with great 
difficulty, even if he ever gets on at all. England is a 
country of sinecures, governed by the same class to-da V 
who governed it in the Middle Ages ; it is in the hands 
of an oligarchy, for the upper circle of the aristocracy 
rules the rulers. J 

This concentration of power has led to an agrarian sit- 
uation that must be redressed, and is the most formidable 
difficulty with which the Government is confronted The 
condition of English laborers is heart-rending, and excites 
the deepest pity. 

Towards the end of the last century there were 250 000 
farmers owning portions of land; but in 1793 the English 
aristocracy, terrified at the possible contagion of the rev- 
olutionary movement in France, and fearing the power 
of these small rural proprietors, gradually bought up all 
their land, and concentrated the soil in its own hands 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 71 

Having thus deprived the people of their real means of 
independence, the Lords made up for this monopoly by ap- 
parent concessions and pretended privileges. In 1832 
there were only 32,000 land-owners, and now 250 great 
noblemen possess the half of England and three-quarters 
of Scotland. Land is the basis of power, and therefore 
of liberty; it is the strength of the proprietor, but it 
means dependence to the tenant. Can a dependant ever 
have any other opinion than that of his Lord ? When the 
soil is owned instead of being rented, the infinite subdi- 
vision of land becomes one of the solutions of pauperism, 
as we are taught by the laws of Lycurgus, by the famous 
agrarian laws of the Gracchi, and by the example of the 
United States, Switzerland, and France. Here then is an 
important and serious problem, constantly brought for- 
ward by the Liberal ministers, and as constantly contest- 
ed, adjourned, distorted, and rejected by the Peers, whose 
very existence is threatened by land reform. The system 
by which one man is enriched at the expense of thousands 
of miserable toilers is a very dangerous element in the 
present internal condition of Great Britain. After this 
question necessarily comes that of pauperism, a malady 
which, together with drunkenness, is preying upon England. 
Although the amount of personal and voluntary charity 
is incalculable, and greatly lightens the burdens of the 
Government and the municipalities, in spite of the thou- 
sands of pounds given to hospitals, and to all institutions 
for the prevention and relief of destitution, pauperism is 
far from diminishing. The remedy is not to be found in 
charity, however lavish it may be ; it can only be effected 
by constitutional reforms ; and those the English, like 
other European Governments, do not study. They only 
gaze with indifference or incapacity on the ever-spreading 
leprosy of destitution. Most of them deny the danger in 
its social aspect ; it is nevertheless one wdth which they 
will have to reckon before long. 



72 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

As for drunkenness, the laws enacted against that pub- 
lic vice are powerless, and the reason is plain enough : 
the legislators have not limited the constantly increasing 
number of public-houses. More than one parliamentary 
social reformer has proposed remedies for this malady, 
which is both epidemic and contagious, but none have 
been listened to. The temperance societies have been 
more fortunate, and have succeeded, to a certain extent, 
where the imperfect laws had failed. 

I should have to touch on a great many other points if 
I were to indicate all the reforms necessary in the mag- 
istrature, in the administration of justice, in the codifica- 
tion of practical laws to replace the voluminous archives 
of precedents and customs — all so much waste paper — that 
fill the libraries of the Inns of Court. Municipal organ- 
ization would have to be entirely reconstituted. The 
English navy can no longer rank as the first in the world, 
and the army is everywhere acknowledged to be inade- 
quate. 

The Radical party, of which I have spoken, gains re- 
cruits from day to day, and must in the end force its pro- 
gramme upon the serious attention of the governing pow- 
ers. The recent advance in electoral reform opens such 
a vast field to democracy in the future that I must leave 
it and its results to the writers of the future. 

As I have to limit myself to the space of a letter, I will 
close my brief remarks on the home politics of England 
by the burning question of free-trade and taxation. Free- 
trade has made England the greatest market in the world, 
and to that the United Kingdom owes the public wealth 
acquired during the last forty years. The products of all 
countries pass through England, and in being negotiated 
there, leave a part of their value behind them; thus has 
colossal wealth been accumulated. 

Some idea may be formed of this bewildering commer- 
cial activity by the gigantic transactions of the Clearing- 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 73 

house, the average of which was every week of the year 
1871, £92,061,865; and the public revenue was increasing 
every day, although the duties were being continually les- 
sened. The export trade was something marvellous, and 
from the most distant corners of the world all who wished 
to effect great loans and to star! great companies came 
to this golden market. The merchant navy was as great 
as that of all other countries put together, and the colo- 
nies shared the ever-increasing prosperity. 

A curious feature in this state of things is that the State 
had nothing to do with it, except in having voted free- 
trade and approved of the great Cobden. The vast result 
was, on the contrary, entirely due to the absence of State 
interference in commerce and manufactures; the State 
was neither the constructor nor administrator of railways, 
nor the organizer of maritime companies — it had nothing 
to do with the execution of public works or with traffic ; 
everything was originated and carried out by private en- 
terprise. 

But a check came. The stock markets are now en- 
cumbered, the incessant production finds fewer outlets, and 
ever -increasing competition makes profits infinitesimally 
small, so that with all her wealth England is threatened 
with a dangerous commercial crisis. In this state of 
things two parties have arisen : the party of fair-trade, 
which demands protective duties to a certain extent, and 
the party of free-trade, which proposes the suppression 
of all the existing customs dues, and wishes to make 
the whole of England a free port. The aim of an intelli- 
gent policy should be to open every outlet, to remove all 
obstacles, and to raise taxes only from fortunes already ac- 
quired and results already obtained. The customs forms 
an impediment to many branches of commerce, and to 
freedom of commerce in general; and the experience of 
these years of trial has proved that it might be abolished. 
Each time that the duty has been removed from an article 



74 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

of commerce, the profits upon it have increased, and it is 
certain that the ideal of trade is the abolition of all fiscal 
restrictions. What a glorious spectacle if all the custom- 
houses of Europe were to disappear simultaneously! The 
principal resources of the revenue are the income-tax and 
the Queen's taxes; the other taxes go into the municipal 
coffers. The English exchequer is supplied by taxation; 
it has no recourse to expedients or to loans. The in- 
come-tax, which was fivepence in the pound, has been 
raised this year to sixpence, in order to supply the deficit 
caused by the Egyptian expedition.* In very urgent 
cases the Treasury issues bonds at short date; this is a 
kind of temporary loan. The income-tax, although vex- 
atious in its form, is much fairer than the taxes that press 
upon labor and production. The income-tax costs less to 
collect than indirect taxes, for the latter require a com- 
plicated mechanism which absorbs part of the products ; 
while the income-tax, collected in a very simple manner, 
goes directly into the coffers of the State without any ap- 
preciable diminution. 

Indirect taxation reminds me of the old toll-bar gates, 
where the amount received exactly represented the sala- 
ries of the men who kept them. In England the partial 
suppression of indirect taxation has especially benefited 
the upper and the middle classes. What remains of this 
tax especially falls upon the poor man's articles of ordi- 
nary consumption: beer, tea, tobacco, etc. Those articles 
are still heavily taxed, while objects of luxury have been 
freed. Limited purses buy in small quantities, and thus 
pay more dearly than if they could lay in large supplies 
or vary the articles of consumption ; so it may be said 
that direct taxes are paid by the rich, and indirect taxes 
by the poor. 



* An increase to eiglitpeuce forms au item in Mr. Childers's recent 
Budget. 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 75 

I will not speak of the rural districts, which are most un- 
fairly burdened; this comes into the agrarian question, 
which must inevitably be the "delenda est Carthago" 
of the home policy of England, and has a distinguished 
champion in the person of Sir Stafford Northcote. 

II.— Foreign Policy. 

From the moment that England alone no longer sup- 
plies the markets of the world, when the improvement of 
foreign ports deprives her of her formerly unique posi- 
tion, when her imports increase as fast as her exports 
diminish, when her great rival, America, competes with 
her everywhere abroad, and even at home, the commercial 
policy of England — a vital policy that necessarily over- 
rides every other consideration — must inevitably be a 
colonial policy. The geographical position of the United 
Kingdom, standing like a sentinel in the ocean, on the 
road to all the great distant continents, its natural de- 
fences, which isolate it from the schemes and ambitions of 
Europe, its enormous internal development, its multitude 
of ports in the four seas, the extent of its navy, the nauti- 
cal aptitude of its people — all have given England an ex- 
ceptionally advantageous position with regard to a colonial 
policy. 

England has only one natural enemy, whose insidious 
policy is always baffling her own — that enemy is Russia. 
England is only interested in other nations in proportion 
to their influence in Eastern affairs, with which she* is al- 
ways occupied. Hitherto her colonies had given her little 
trouble; but now — and here I recognize the working of 
Providence — Mr. Gladstone's advent to power has struck 
a vigorous blow at the roots of the colonial tree. 

At the very moment that the colonies of England are 
causing so much anxiety, how is it that Europe is seized 
with the idea of cutting up the globe, and of making a 
number of little colonies? The result is very curious, as 



76 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

it forces the statesman who would, if he could, reduce 
England to her original limits, to require her to muster all 
her forces in order to defend what he would like her to 
relinquish. At this moment Mr. Gladstone has no further 
opportunity for the application of his anticolonial theo- 
ries. He has to pursue a policy of necessity, and alter- 
nately to watch, suspect, or coax Germany, who is now 
directly menacing the far-off English possessions. Besides 
the Germanic annexations, side by side with the English, 
the good understanding between the Germans and Boers 
is a danger to the Cape and Natal. The warriors who 
have beaten the English three times, in the defile of 
Laing's Nek, remind us of those formidable Swiss whom 
the Dukes of Burgundy were never able to conquer. 

The colonies, threatened on all sides, harass the Foreign 
Office with imperious demands for protection, and the 
Foreign Office replies by asking them for soldiers to assist 
in Egypt or India ! 

The vicinity of the Germans has irritated Australia, and 
an inclination for independence, for self - protection, is 
gradually increasing among the people, who feel them- 
selves to be grown up, and want to escape from the 
leading-strings of the mother-country. Just as it has 
happened in America, the Australian colonies, peopled 
with the sons of England, forget imperial patriotism, and 
become colonial patriots, limiting the sentiment to their 
new country. Mr. Gladstone is much embarrassed by the 
incapacity of Lord Derby. The least-governed colonists 
weigh the advantages of their attachment to the empire 
with those of secession, and as they are already emanci- 
pated in heart, they may soon emancipate themselves in 
fact. Australia has even ventured to levy protective du- 
ties on certain English products, in order to protect her 
local industry. 

The United States much desire that Canada should en- 
ter the Union. A powerful Irish colony is trying to de- 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 77 

tach it from England, and the country is beginning to 
calculate its chances of independence. The Marquis of 
Lome, when he was Viceroy, asserted that the opposition 
to the incorporation of Canada with the neighboring States 
was due only to the influence of French Canadians. 

India, with its 200,000,000 of British subjects, is a cause 
of so much well-founded anxiety to English politicians that 
I must give it a special place. 

The muttered threat, heard throughout India, of a re- 
bellion, or a Russian invasion, Wolseley's unfortunate ex- 
pedition to the Soudan, the turbulence in Ireland, the in- 
evitable and closely -impending agrarian questions, have 
brought Great Britain to the verge of a dangerous politi- 
cal crisis, as well as a dangerous commercial crisis. Solic- 
itude for home affairs has at this moment to give place to 
imperial cares. Every sore is now smarting; the whole 
country admits the disorganization of the army and the 
insufficiency of the navy, the sense of helplessness and 
humiliation exasperates it, and it accuses its favorite Min- 
ister of failing to protect its Colonial Empire. 

During the five years that Mr. Gladstone has been in 
power, his adversaries accuse him of having alienated Eu- 
rope, and weakened all the possessions of the Empire. 

He began, they say, by irritating Austria. In a short 
time he estranged France, Denmark, Turkey, and India, 
where his hesitation left millions of people to die of fam- 
ine. I now give the views of Mr. Gladstone's enemies, 
because, by quoting their complaints, I can best make you 
understand the double side of English political questions. 
Every affirmation of Lord Beaconsfield implies a negation 
of Mr. Gladstone, and vice versa. 

At the Conference at Berlin, in June, 1880, to settle the 
Grecian Frontier, the bad temper of Prince Bismarck, 
who could not forgive Mr. Gladstone for having ousted his 
rival, was used by the Tories as a proof of the diplomatic 
weakness of the chief of the Liberal party ; while it was 



78 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

only, in reality, a confirmation of his victory over them- 
selves. One of the crimes of which Mr. Gladstone is ac- 
cused is his good-will to Greece. He is reproached with 
having encouraged the Government of Athens to raise a 
loan and to create an army, and with having afterwards 
prevented Greece from making use of the means that he 
himself had advised. It is forgotten that France, influ- 
enced by Turkey, Germany, and Austria, had meanwhile 
withdrawn her moral support from Greece, and that Eng- 
land alone could not sustain that country. She did so long 
enough to injure her relations with those three Powers. 

After his fall from power, Lord Beaconsfield condemned 
every action of his triumphant adversary with virulence, 
poured forth in public at every opportunity. 

I must admit that Mr. Gladstone's Egyptian policy is 
inconsistent and contradictory. In his electoral speeches 
he had blamed the acquisition of Cyprus, and that of the 
Transvaal, and repeatedly said, "My Government is a 
Government of peace." And he made this precise decla- 
ration, " The Gladstone Cabinet will not make war. At- 
tention should not be diverted from public affairs by for- 
eign policy." With what a storm of sai*casm he was re- 
ceived in the House the day after the bombardment of 
Alexandria — a bombardment all the more unjustifiable as 
a conference was at that moment going on at Constanti- 
nople! I must, in justice, say, however, that in all this 
Egyptian affair Mr. Gladstone's hand was forced by the 
"Princes of Finance." The Tories assert that Mr. Glad- 
stone moves as the policy of Lord Beaconsfield leads 
him; but how could it be otherwise, in a fixed position, 
with the same surroundings, and dealing with the same 
interests? For instance, after Mr. Gladstone had in his 
speeches condemned the acquisition of Cyprus, was he 
wrong in making the best use of it? After he had de- 
clared to the Sultan that he would oppose all interference 
by him in Egypt, he was forced by circumstances to re- 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 79 

•turn to Lord Beaconsfield's policy, and to declare that 
Turkish intervention would be the wisest measure. Tossed 
about in a position imposed upon him, but not created by 
him, he alternately alienates the Sultan and asks for his 
good offices; then threatens him, and prevents his ships 
being sent to Egypt at the time of the bombardment ; and 
later still, when the Mahdi appears to be triumphant, he 
turns to this same Sultan, and asks him to send an Otto- 
man force to Egypt to crush the rebel. All these contra- 
dictory proceedings were imposed upon him by events. 

It may be asserted that England has never approved of 
the Avar in the Soudan. When Mr. Goshen, representing 
the English bond-holders, went about the country preach- 
ing this crusade, he was asked, "Are we going to be so 
foolish as to fight and make enormous sacrifices of men 
and money, in order that the Egyptians may be spoiled 
for the benefit of a few bond-holders?" The Soudanese 
question has served as a fruitful theme for the enemies 
of Mr. Gladstone ; his delays and his half measures have 
given the Mahdi some very easy victories. A war that 
is thought useless is always feebly organized, and the 
English only went on with this war in the Soudan be- 
cause it seemed necessary to maintain the prestige of the 
English in the eyes of the Mussulman population of In- 
dia. England is but seeking a pretext to retire, and she 
will perhaps find it in the necessity for defending her 
Indian Mussulmans against Russia. The Mahdi, intoxi- 
cated with his success, declares he will take Egypt from 
the English, but those who consider the position coolly, 
count upon the perfidy and treachery natural to the Sou- 
danese to relieve them of the Mahdi. 

In this affair of the Soudan a curious part is being 
played by Italy, and, in spite of their well-known diplo- 
matic skill, the Italians seem in great danger of gaining 
nothing but suspicion and embarrassment at Massowah. 
No doubt the English were flattered to see them coming 



THE AVORLD OF LONDON. 



to their assistance ; but sudden changes of opinion are) 
very frequent and very easy in England ! The Cabinet 
of Rome, deceived by the selfish policy perfidious Al- 
bion is forced to pursue, will certainly discover before 
long that much disappointment awaits it in the Soudan. 

To whatever side Mr. Gladstone turns, or however he 
may act, he is entangled in the meshes of Lord Beacons- 
field's policy, and can only find an issue to his present 
difficulties in some utter contradiction of his own opin- 
ions. When, with practical wisdom, he accepts facts 
thrust upon him by previous facts, he is accused of con- 
tradicting himself; and when he resists circumstances that 
he has not brought about, it is asserted that his only 
object is to destroy all his rival has created. For Mr. 
Gladstone the dilemma is this : he must either, against 
his own inclination, exact considerable sacrifices from 
England, and reconstitute her Colonial Empire, or he 
must lose this Colonial Empire that he thinks fatal to 
her, and thereby incur the malediction of the country. 

But in asking the good offices of Germany, is not Mr. 
Gladstone adding another danger to those that already 
menace him ? Whatever he may do, the policy of a Lib- 
eral Cabinet will never please the Iron Chancellor so well 
as the policy of a Tory Cabinet, and the resigned submis- 
sion of Mr. Gladstone will never make Bismarck forget 
the ready complaisance of Lord Beaconsfield. 

A rupture between England and Germany is inevita- 
ble. Prince Bismarck pursues his obvious intention of 
absorbing Holland in Germany : this with one stroke 
would give him the Dutch colonies, and place a formida- 
ble rival to England at the very doors of India and Aus- 
tralia. This danger England has brought upon herself, 
and it is probably now too late to escape it. If she had 
chosen to do so, she could have prevented Sadowa and 
Sedan, and united Germany would not now exist. Austria 
asked nothing better than to join with England and pre- 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 81 

vent the Schleswig campaign ; but she could not venture 
to act alone. The Queen opposed the Austrian alliance, 
fearing to have to draw the sword against her good 
friends the Germans. 

The foresight of England seems to be restricted to 
special subjects, and Lord Palmerston, the author of the 
hereditary, policy of England, did not foresee, when he en- 
feebled the Netherlands by making the kingdom of Bel- 
gium, what burdens he was leaving to his successors by 
the treaties of 1831 and 1839. He was aiming at France, 
whom he called the "natural enemy" of England, and 
was concentrating all his efforts on the frustration of 
French policy. It was not until afterwards that he came 
back to her and held out his hand, when he perceived 
that she might be a useful friend, and that the danger 
was in Prussia. 

If Mr. Gladstone is at the present time following the 
early policy of Lord Palmerston, he will soon find out 
what it costs him. Acts of deference to Prince Bismarck 
always run the risk of being looked upon by France as 
acts of hostility towards herself. 

III. — The Indian Question. 
" Europe will either be Republican or Russian," said 
Napoleon, and both alternatives seem to be realizing 
themselves ; for Europe is gradually becoming Republi- 
can, while the power of Russia increases from day to day. 
If she succeeds in taking India and Constantinople, she 
will hold the supremacy of the world. It is said that all 
the different races composing the Russian Empire are 
without cohesion, and therefore prepare the way for its 
dismemberment ; but this is not so. The nations to whom 
they offer themselves as liberators, and whom they carry 
with them on their onward march, the very form of their 
aristocracy, their Asiatic instincts, bring them nearer to 
those whom Western people call barbarians. 



82 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 

In the East, Russia claims to have a sacred mission ; and 
it is well known with what religious fervor she follows 
the line of conduct traced out by Peter the Great, whose 
will is to the Russians, as Murray says, " the charter of 
Russian Imperialism." Until now Gladstone always un- 
derstood the necessity of friendly relations between Eng- 
land and Russia, and when he married the Duke of Ed- 
inburgh to the daughter of the Czar, he accomplished 
an action of great political importance. But in our day 
royal unions have only a platonic influence, if they are not 
supplemented by friendship between nations. Mr. Glad- 
stone proved what his opinion was by signing the humili- 
ating treaty of London in 1871, which seemed to establish 
the agreement between England and Russia on a defini- 
tive footing. 

Following out the system which made his policy a direct 
contradiction of that of Lord Beaconsfield, Avhen the war 
in the East began, Mr. Gladstone, remaining faithful to 
Russia, preached a crusade in its favor, while Lord Bea- 
consfield used every means suggested by his enmity to 
provoke an anti- Russian agitation in the United King- 
dom, and skilfully stopped the Russians at the gates of 
Constantinople. At that moment the war in Afghanistan 
broke out, and Lord Beaconsfield inflamed it, hoping that 
the outbreak would spread as far as the Russian posses- 
sions, and that the whole of India would rise against the 
" Colossus of clay." 

So soon as Mr. Gladstone came into power again, he 
caused the evacuation of Candahar — an unpardonable 
mistake, by which the £19,500,000 the war had. cost was 
entirely thrown away. But India continued to be dis- 
turbed ; its people, who are apparently so calm, do not, 
when seized by the fever of revolt, recover quickly from 
the excitement. The Afghans, especially, are a nation of 
warriors ; like all mountaineers, every man knows how to 
handle a gun, and delights in using it. In time of war, 



ENGLISH POLITICK. 83 

devotion to their country, or love of independence, will 
produce innumerable soldiers everywhere for the defence 
of their narrow frontier passes. But these small bodies 
of troops are without organization, and although they can 
defend their defiles, they disperse so soon as they find 
themselves exposed to European armies. You remember, 
no doubt, what was the question of the moment when 
General Komaroff entered Afghanistan. An Anglo-Rus- 
sian Commission was charged with the delimitation of the 
frontier, under the direction of Sir Peter Lumsden, on the 
English side, and the dilatory behavior of this Commis- 
sion had somewhat injured the prestige of Great Britain; 
but whose fault was that ? 

The time of this definition of the frontier was identi- 
cal with the taking of Khartoum by the Mahdi; and if 
Russia had not been withheld by respect for the misfort- 
unes of her friend and ally, Mr. Gladstone, she might 
have profited by the defeat of England, and could have 
entered Afghanistan without difficulty. Instead of let- 
ting their vanguards encamp at Penj-deh, and keeping 
them back at the river Murgab, they could have cleared 
the pass of the Sobat, which is the key of Herat, as He- 
rat is the key of India. The road is the same as that 
which has been followed from times immemorial by the 
hordes of the north who have overrun Hindostan. They 
took Tashkend in 1864, Bokhara in 1870, Khiva in 1873, 
Khokand in 1876, then Merv and Sarakhs, and they will 
take Herat in the same manner. 

When they march towards India, they march with 
certainty, and the people offer less and less resistance as 
they approach. Everywhere they make roads, construct 
railways, put up telegraph lines, and soon they will be 
able to transport a hundred thousand men to Merv in 
six days. Russia occupies the Khanate of Khiva, and 
has incorporated it. Khiva and Merv are united, and 
together form a government that may become the head- 



84 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

quarters of many future conquests. The Khan is a de- 
scendant of the famous Tamerlane, and acknowledges 
himself a tributary of the Czar, who to all his other 
titles will soon add that of Emperor of Central Asia. 
The day is perhaps not far distant when the coronation 
of the Russian Emperor will take place at Samarkand in 
the presence of all the khans and emirs who are under 
the Russian protectorate. Samarkand is at the very 
gates of Cashmere and Lahore, and there are only the 
mountains of Bolor to cross to get into India. 

In Afghanistan the Russian party is considerable, and 
the agitation in their favor very active. The Usbegs at 
Cabul preach separation from England, and the Sumites 
and Turcomans are ready to play the part of liberators by 
coming to the help of the Afghans. The population of 
Herat calls for the Russians, and the complaints of cer- 
tain races in India against England are turned to good 
account. The Emir Abdurrahman would, perhaps, not be 
disinclined to retaliate on the English for their recent 
occupation, if the Russians would help him to do so. 
Their troops would have an easy victory as soon as they 
appeared; in many places they would be regarded as de- 
liverers rather than as enemies. 

In the Khan of Khasgar, who has at his disposal 
40,000 men, well armed and well trained, England certain- 
ly has a faithful ally, a friend disposed to bar the road 
to the Russians ; but a few thousand Chinese would be 
sufficient to quiet him. No doubt, if India belonged to 
England body and soul, and was full of grateful subjects, 
she could easily find sufficient resisting force in them; 
but instead of this, she is deeply hated, and at any mo- 
ment might have to face a Nana Sahib and an insurrec- 
tion as formidable as that of 1857. The silent detestation 
of the victims of her unforgotten spoliations is all un- 
appeased. India includes two distinct elements — the Hin- 
doo and the Mohammedan ; and I think it is Du Vivier 



ENGLISH POLITICS. 



who says, "At the head of its fauna India possesses two 
predominant species, the elephant and the tiger." The 
one is "mild," like the Hindoo, and bears the yoke; the 
other, like the Mohammedan, is always ready to abandon 
itself to fits of blind fury, and has never exhausted its 
stores of rage. The rebellion in the Soudan and the 
success of their fellow-Mohammedans emboldens them. 
They detect signs of weakness in England, and begin to 
follow the onward march of Russia with the greatest in- 
terest; not because they would prefer the rule of Russia 
to British rule, but because they would delight to see 
their oppressors overthrown. 

Revolutionary pamphlets are read aloud in the bazaars 
to groups of fanatics. The rajahs detest English officials, 
who are firm and just, I admit, but offensive and haughty, 
and they feel themselves more at ease with the Russians, 
who allow their customs, tolerate their vices, and are 
more indulgent to Oriental corruption. In fact, the 
Russian character harmonizes better with Asiatic tastes 
than is possible to English formality. Their loquacity 
and bright imagination pleases the Hindoos better than 
the reserve and stiffness of the English. The proud and 
haughty children of the sun hate to be ruled by mere 
administrators, and Russian women are received at the 
court of the rajahs as friends, while English women are 
treated as strangers. 

Russia expends immense sums of money in quietly pur- 
chasing the Asiatic chiefs. India swarms with her emis- 
saries, who sow disaffection among the native races, ex- 
cite discontent against the English Government, stir up 
the pride of the Hindoos, persuade the victims of oppres- 
sion to revolt in order afterwards to proffer their help, and 
have used the incapacity of the Viceroy to deceive the 
vigilance of England. Of the thousands of addresses of 
sympathy and regret sent to Lord Ripon on his leaving 
India, the greater part were drawn up by the secret 



86 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

agents of Russia to re-assure the United Kingdom as to 
the loyalty of its Hindoo subjects, and to entice the Vice- 
roy through his vanity into saying, as he did say at the 
moment of his departure, that the country had never been 
more attached or tranquil. In short, the Russians sigh 
for the sun of India, and the height of their ambition is 
to see the standard of the Czar hoisted at Government 
House. 



THE IRISH QUESTION. 87 



Twelfth Letter. 
the irish question. 

Before I discuss the Irish question I wish to say a 
word to those who have ignorantly called it a war of 
races. If I could enter upon an ethnological treatise I 
should be able to prove that half England is of the same 
origin as Ireland, and the appellation "Anglo-Saxon race," 
which really makes England a German colony, is as erro- 
neous as it is wrongly interpreted. The two words, "An- 
glo " and " Saxon," are almost a repetition of each other, 
for the Angles are the people who came from the Don, 
and became the Saxons, and the Danes of Schleswig, who 
afterwards invaded Norway; and later, under the name 
of Scandinavians, Scotland and the east of England. In 
reality, these two words are only one, and Anglo-Saxon is 
a pleonasm, just as England — land of the Angles — is too 
exclusive a term; for the- country is peopled by Latin, 
Celtic, and Scandinavian races. The Normans invaded 
the south of the country, but the west, from Cornwall to 
the extremity of the Highlands of Scotland, belongs, like 
Ireland, to the Celtic race. It is not, therefore, the an- 
tagonism of races that has caused the oppression of Ire- 
land ; it is rather an antagonism of caste, a war at first of 
interest and now of passion, excited by these injured in- 
terests. Like nearly all the internal conflicts which rend 
countries governed by a powerful nobility, it is a war of 
caste, and Ireland has its most formidable enemies in its 
own aristocracy. 

This conflict between the aristocratic owners of the soil 
and the people who rent it also threatens England nearly. 



88 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

The malcontents are even beginning to raise their heads 
in Scotland — a tranquil country, hitherto guarded by only 
3320 policeman, while Ireland requires 25,000. The de- 
sire for property is showing itself among the little farm- 
ers of Skye and Lewis, and the laborers of Tiree threaten 
to take possession of the land by force if their claims are 
not listened to. This is the beginning of a great move- 
ment, which, before long, will embrace all the north of 
England, where a Land League is already formed, as in 
Scotland and in Ireland. 

I can only give you the broad outline of the origin of 
the revolts and the oppression which have made a bleed- 
ing victim of Ireland. A great many books have been 
written on the subject, and I advise you to read the last, 
"La Question Irlandaise," by M. Herve. Every one 
knows what Ireland suffered under Elizabeth, and no 
more unhappy nation ever struggled with greater heroism 
against a more cruel despotism. Until the time of Eliza- 
beth, Ireland was a vassal only in name, and under Henry 
VIII. she even possessed a National Parliament. Eliza- 
beth, in spite of the letters- patent that her father had 
granted to the chiefs of the Irish Parliament, in order to 
reconcile them by securing their possession of the land, 
destroyed the tradition of this intelligent policy. Re- 
gardless of acquired rights, and of her father's promises, 
she parcelled out the grants of land, and gave or sold 
them to English colonists. 

Cromwell came, and crowned the work of spoliation by 
having the malcontents massacred. Then he peopled the 
north of the island with foreigners, to whom grants of 
land had been made, thus sowing the seeds of the fatal 
discord, which has lasted to our own day, between the 
Catholics and the Orangemen. 

The heartrending history of the subjugation of Ireland 
has been one long martyrology for the unfortunate sister 
island, a lugubrious tale of moral and physical suffering, a 



THE IRISH QUESTION". 89 

perpetual death struggle, prolonged by Ireland's amazing 
vitality. 

Whether England understands and admits it or not, she 
will not find a nation in the whole world who does not 
stigmatize these crimes in her history, and feel the deep- 
est sympathy for Ireland. 

An apparently benevolent reaction has taken place in 
our day, and timidly tried to initiate an era of reparation 
for the wrongs of the miserable country. Unfortunately, 
nearly all the bills proposed in its favor have been suc- 
cessively and systematically rejected by the House of 
Lords. Ireland has its representatives in Parliament; 
but the little band, always looked upon with suspicion, 
imprisoned, expelled, crushed by an arbitrary majority, 
cannot secure redress for her wrongs and the recovery of 
her liberties. 

There are two forces whose indomitable power will, 
in the end, triumph over the cruelty and resistance of 
England; these are national feeling and religious faith. 
Among the few concessions made to Ireland is liberty of 
conscience, and Mr. Gladstone has a claim on the eternal 
gratitude of the Irish for having abolished that flagrant 
injustice, the English Established Church. Civil equality 
between Catholics and Protestants, and liberty of educa- 
tion, have also been granted them. Poor slaves, they have 
not yet got beyond these mere preliminaries of progress ! 
Ireland is an entirely agricultural nation, living on the 
produce of its land, and is decimated by a bad harvest as 
if by a w r ar. Agrarian reform is a question of life and 
death; to it belongs the task of effacing the iniquitous 
work of conquest, and relieving the frightful poverty due 
to the despotic rule that grinds down these poor aliens in 
their own country. Agrarian reform will also provide a 
remedy for the periodical risings of the agricultural popu- 
lation against the land-owners. A succession of bills were 
proposed, notably the Land Act of 1870, and that of 1881, 



90 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

to regulate the relations between tenants and land-owners 
in a more equitable manner, and to put some restraint on 
the arbitrary exactions of the latter. 

These reforms allow the tenants to keep possession, in 
spite of the land-owners, thanks to the creation of special- 
commissions, empowered to fix rents on the demand of the 
tenants. The value of property having been lessened 25 
per cent., the land-owners claim, through the Tories, an 
indemnity which the Whigs reject as unfair. The latter 
ground their refusal on the well-founded accusation that 
for long years the land-owners have abused their rights, 
oppressed the people, and extorted exorbitant rents. The 
repulsed plaintiffs secretly put every obstacle in the way 
of the Land Commission. 

Such concessions, yielded so grudgingly, leavened by 
so much bad feeling, have not, as you may readily sup- 
pose, appeased the Irish. What they demand is not the 
charity of a few meagre laws; it is the acknowledgment 
of their natural rights; and they rest the question on the 
grounds of the deadly conflict between legal right and 
traditional right. Ireland will never be governed by 
English ideas. Its lasting tranquillity can only be pur- 
chased by granting it a local Parliament. At the mere 
sound of " Home Rule " a tempest rages in the two 
Houses. I have talked with Mr. O'Leary, Mr. McCarthy, 
and other Parnellites, and they all assure me that Ireland 
wants nothing but a Parliament. That granted, there 
would be an end to the conflict. She wants what Austria 
has given to Hungary, Sweden to Norway, and she would 
accept the supremacy of the Queen. Mr. Gladstone, and 
a good many Liberals, have been won over to this just 
cause ; but the Lords will never admit it ; so the struggle 
must go on indefinitely. 

Thanks to the efforts of Grattan, Ireland possessed a 
National Parliament at the beginning of this century, but 
committed the unpardonable fault of selling it (the ex- 



THE IRISII QUESTION. 91 

pression is not too severe) to the English Minister, William 
Pitt, and it was by its own vote amalgamated with the 
English Parliament. This was abdicating the autonomy 
that had been won, and rendering fruitless the work of 
the great patriot Grattan — who alone had opposed Great 
Britain, and wrung from it this glorious concession. 

Until the" days of liberty return, tyranny goes on mul- 
tiplying its crimes, and is repaid by outrages of all kinds. 
Vanquished, patriotic Ireland uses every means to make 
its animosity felt, and has to be reckoned with as an ene- 
my in every Imperial crisis. 

The National League is growing ; the two parties of 
Home Rule and of Fenianism — that is to say, on one side 
law and order in exchange for autonomy; on the other, 
rehabilitation by revolution — are progressing with tacit 
unanimity. It would be childish to assert that these 
forces can be destroyed; in spite of the violence of all 
kinds that Ireland has suffered for three centuries, she still 
exists. Famine, carnage, massacre, all have failed to ex- 
haust her. There is no longer time for self-decejition ; a 
sincere policy of generous reparation must at once be 
inaugurated by England, or all the sons of Ireland will 
unite to deliver their mother country. 

Irish emigrants, fleeing from famine, or driven from 
their homes because they could not pay their rent, dared 
the perils of the sea in floating charnel-houses, in which 
the human cargo was lessened every hour by starvation 
and exhaustion. They went to seek another country 
which would be less cruel to them. They landed on the 
shores of Canada and of the United States, with hatred of 
England in their hearts, but also a burning love for their 
Irish home. A miserable seed for the harvest of the future, 
did devastated Ireland cast on a foreign shore ! From this 
seed Fenianism has sprung. The tares have mingled with 
the wheat; and from across the ocean that bore these de- 
spairing emigrants will come revenge upon their oppressors, 



92 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

The opportune moment will be decided by some agra- 
rian agitation in Scotland, a revolt in India, or a foreign 
war. On that day, my noble Lords, where will you find j 
means of resistance ? It will then be too late, and the j 
question will be settled by revolution, since you would j 
not allow it to be solved by law. But the time has not 
yet come for entire deliverance, and until Ireland belongs 
to the Irish, India to the Indians, and Egypt to the Egyp- ' 
tians, England will continue to rule her states and her 
colonies. Ireland might be easily quieted now if Home 
Rule were granted her; but would a local Parliament be 
a lasting remedy? It may be doubted. Reforms will 
not suffice until the old rancor, the inveterate enmity con- 
stantly stirred up by agitators, is entirely destroyed. 

The great agitator, Mr. Parnell, is considered by the 
Irish as a second Liberator. A true Spartan, utterly 
indifferent to the pleasures of life, he is chief of the 
Home Rulers, and the one most feared by the English 
Parliament as an " irreconcilable." It was he who, at 
Cincinnati in 1880, made this declaration to his Ameri- 
can brethren, " No one of us will be satisfied until we 
have destroyed. the last link that binds Ireland to Eng- 
land." 

An orator by the force of his convictions rather than 
by natural eloquence, he is only entirely himself when 
addressing his constituents, an ever-increasing body ; for 
the whole of Ireland contends for him at each election. 
He can do much good or much ill to his country. The 
journal United Ireland is his organ. The Ministers rec- 
ognize his power, and treat him with deference, even with 
consideration. 

In a previous letter I had an opportunity of mention- 
ing Lord Spencer, the Viceroy or Lord-lieutenant of Ire- 
land. Among the chief secretaries who have governed 
Ireland, Mr. Forster and Mr. Trevelyan have made the 
deepest impression ; but what can a Minister do when the 



THE IRISH QUESTION. 93 

laws that he enforces are tyrannical laws, mere engines 
for the oppression of the people whom he governs? 

The present Minister is Mr. Bannerman, a person of 
moderate abilities, who talks little, but works hard ; he 
is rich, superior to temptations, practical, and just. He 
is a Scotchman and a Liberal. Mr. Trevelyan was sensi- 
tive, Mr. Forster susceptible ; but Mr. Bannerman pos- 
sesses a serenity quite above provocation, though he al- 
lows no one to intrude or encroach upon him ; and it 
would be dangerous to try to bribe him. He has cour- 
age and good-sense, but his heart is as hard as his head is 
strong, and he is utterly incapable of enthusiasm. 

The Irish are a sociable, intelligent, and witty people, 
gifted with marvellous elasticity and a sympathetic, gen- 
erous nature; very clear-sighted, and endowed with a spirit 
of organization and administration, but indolent and un- 
certain. The upper classes in Ireland are well educated 
and very agreeable in society. 

The English justly appreciate the intellectual value of 
their neighbors, and take its great men from the Emerald 
Isle, without regarding themselves as its debtors, for they 
carefully ignore the source of their wealth. Among the 
illustrious dead, how many names of Irishmen can one 
enumerate without a moment's thought, such as Welling- 
ton, Sheridan, Swift, Moore, and Goldsmith. Lord Duf- 
ferin, Lord Charles Beresford, and Lord Wolseley are in 
men's mouths to-day, while many leading journalists, elo- 
quent preachers, distinguished men in all the professions, 
are natives of Ireland. 



94 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 



Thirteenth Letter. 
the men of the day. 

In this letter I am about to speak of some leading poli- 
ticians, not included in any previous group, of remarkable 
men in the army and navy, and of a few other people. 

To begin with, I will take Mr. Forster, ex-Secretary of 
State for Ireland, the most variable weathercock in a po- 
litical world ; the word " tergiversator " must have been 
invented for him. Starting as a Radical, he has gradual- 
ly become a link between Conservatives and Liberals. 
The world begins and ends for him in the House of Com- 
mons, or, at most, does not extend beyond the Lords, and 
when he is busy in getting a law passed, he thinks only 
of the success of the moment, and troubles himself very 
little about the effect the law will have when it is in 
operation ; yet he has proposed some useful measures, the 
Education Bill in 1870, and the Ballot Bill in 1872. He 
speaks well without being an orator, and under an air of 
simple good-nature conceals strong common-sense, practi- 
cal sagacity, and consummate skill. 

His wife is charming, amiable, and refined, and the dip- 
lomatic world crowds her drawing-room. 

Although Lord Dufferin has just left us, to govern In- 
dia, the important part that he has played makes him so 
prominent, and the task that he is now fulfilling is so 
closely allied with the greatest interests of England that 
I cannot be silent about the ex-Viceroy of Canada, the ex- 
Ambassador at St. Petersburg, Constantinople, etc. 

A liberal, generous, keen politician, a born leader, clever, 
and patient, very popular, a consummate administrator, he 



THE MEN OF TIIE DAY. 95 

is distinguished in every way, and has everywhere acquired 
respect and esteem. He captivates those whom he governs 
by the charm of his manners, by his generous hospitality, 
his exquisite courtesy, his impartiality, his upright princi- 
ples. Nothing escapes him ; in Canada, he studied the 
country and its resources thoroughly ; in London he has 
raised the tone of society, and gained the name of "our 
only diplomatist." In a new country he quickly takes the 
measure of his adversaries, and fights them with their own 
weapons. His experience in Russia, Turkey, and Egypt 
has well prepared him for India. An indefatigable work- 
er, he does everything himself with the help of a single 
private secretary. He has sound judgment and perfect 
tact ; he polishes and repolishes his speeches until they 
are models of literary excellence, and at this moment is 
writing a book on Russia, which will certainly be very in- 
teresting. His courage equals his energy, and if he had 
been appointed Lord- lieutenant of Ireland many disas- 
ters would have been avoided and many improvements 
effected. As a man he is eclectic, original, eccentric; very 
English in appearance, with a deceptive Mephistopheles 
air; an eye-glass is always in his eye. His after-dinner 
speaking is unrivalled, and he knows how to make a com- 
pliment in a few words worth more than volumes. Thus 
he thrilled old Moltke with pleasure by saying, "I have 
shaken hands with Wellington, and now I am shaking 
hands with the greatest soldier living." 

His receptions are rigorously select, and never exceed 
two hundred guests. At his soirees charades are often 
acted, and he takes a brilliant part. He is a wonderful 
story-teller, and occasionally condescends to a comic 
style. He is very popular wherever he goes, and much 
liked by all who know him. Lord Dufferin is certainly 
an ornament to Ireland, and in India he may accomplish 
great things if circumstances are not too strong for him. 
He is not yet sixty years old. 



96 THE WORLD OP LONDON. 

Now I will speak of Bradlaugh; although after the ele- 
gance and distinction of Lord Dufferin, you may think 
him a vulgar topic. Bradlaugh is the most advanced man 
in the country, and has been compared to Danton. If he 
has the same power, the same tragic gayety in the midst 
of national troubles, he has a great deal more cunning. 
Formerly a dragoon, then a solicitor's clerk, he made him- 
self known by his lectures on atheism, Malthusianism, and 
republicanism. His physical strength, and his unlimited 
audacity, have given him great influence with the masses; 
his profound faith in himself and in his mission compels 
their admiration. He is a powerful speaker, but delights 
in quibbles, and is more of a lawyer than a statesman. In 
Parliament he is an enfant terrible, whose mouth must be 
shut at every moment to prevent his making revelations 
which would convulse the House with horror and indigna- 
tion. His programme is simple: Disestablishment of "the 
Church, abolition of monarchy, universal suffrage, nation- 
alization of the land, suppression of the aristocracy. You 
know how the House has treated him as a reprobate, sus- 
pended, and excluded him. Not being permitted to take 
the oath, he sits at the door like an outsider, not among 
the other members. He has a keen, observant mind ; his 
eccentricity is only on the surface; and in any great so- 
cial agitation I should not wonder if he took the lead. 

Sir Wilfrid Lawson — a Radical — the inveterate enemy 
of alcohol, has not precisely a ''holiday" face; public- 
houses are a horror to him, and every year the anti-beer 
baronet brings forward a " Permissive Prohibition Bill," 
for the entire closing of public-houses on the Sabbath 
day. 

Sir Thomas Brassey is the son of a great financier, great 
constructor of railways, and great philanthropist, who was 
one of the most upright, the most honorable, and the most 
benevolent men of his time. He employed nearly 80,000 
workmen at a time, and constructed railways costing 



THE MEN OF THE DAY. 97 

£17,000,000. His life was most exemplary. His son, Sir 
Thomas Brassey, passed his childhood in France. He is 
a devoted son, well-informed, practical and useful, and a 
remarkable book, " Work and Wages," proves him to be 
a capable writer. His place in Parliament is enviable; 
the justice of his views with regard to the relations of 
Labor and Capital is much appreciated ; while his ac- 
quaintance with all maritime matters, ports and docks, 
makes him valuable. Although he is not an orator, he is 
always listened to with attention. He sits among the 
Liberals, and has recently been appointed Secretary of 
the Admiralty. He is an excellent amateur sailor, and 
considered the best pilot in England. He has made a 
voyage round the world in his own boat, the Simbcam. 
He is affable and sociable, although he always seems pre- 
occupied with some mental labor, and looks absent or 
pensive. 

Lady Brassey is a person of wide sympathies and great 
talent. She interests herself much in the question of the 
emancipation of women, and presides at meetings held on 
this subject. She writes well, and has published a very 
interesting nautical diary. 

Before leaving the politicians, I wish, in the name of 
humanity, to pay a tribute of admiration and gratitude 
to that great, good man, Mr. Plimsoll. While others are 
busily inventing means for destroying their fellow-creat- 
ures, Plimsoll, by a law, forcibly extorted from Parlia- 
ment, has saved the lives of thousands of obscure heroes 
of the sea. But he is dreaded for his truth-telling, and 
has not been re-elected. His powerful and eloquent 
book is an outburst of feeling from a generous heart. 

I now turn to the army. The English army has at its 
head two generals, round each of whom stands a group of 
partisans — General Roberts and Lord Wolseley, with 
their respective followers, the Robertists and the Wolse- 
leyites. Much jealousy and many passions rage under 



C8 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

cover of these two names. There .ire several brave of- 
ficers whom I should like to name, but the stir that has 
been made about these two generals forces me to speak 
especially of them. 

General Roberts, a man of extraordinary energy, has a 
very fine head, and very haughty way of holding it. He 
cannot be exactly said to be a born soldier, and yet he 
possesses all the qualities that command success. He de- 
mands from his men all that they can give, but never 
more, and succeeds in attaching them to him. His brill- 
iant campaign in Afghanistan displayed all his military 
talents, and although he Las learned much by experience, 
yet he owes something to chance. He is very popular 
in the army, and the Queen likes him very much, and Las 
given him several proofs of her regard. 

Lord Wolseley of Cairo, the conqueror of the King of 
Dahomey, the hero of Tel-el-Kebir, the commander-in- 
chief of the army in the Soudan, is the most restless of 
men. The Ashantees called him "the man who never 
stops." He has won his position inch by inch, and has 
great military ability. Unlike General Roberts, he is 
always ready to receive a new idea, to weigh it and to 
assimilate it ; but he is headstrong, arbitrary, intolerant, 
vindictive, and unjust, and he cannot endure contradic- 
tion. He possesses an iron frame, and a determined will. 
He is not more lenient to himself than to others. When 
he was in Cyprus he was attacked by fever, but — more 
indomitable than the malady — he mounted his horse, and 
in spite of his weakness and the trembling of the ague, 
holding on as well as he could in his exhausted condition, 
he galloped round the island to the amazement of every 
one. The shaking, the heat, and the fatigue caused a 
reaction, and he was cured. 

Like Louis XIV., Napoleon, and Wellington, Wolseley 
is a keen judge of men, and chooses those who will serve 
himself best. He is liked by his own partisans, but de- 



TIIK MEN OF THE DAY. 99 

tested by a great part of the army; and the Robertists, 
in spite of their patriotism, feel little regret for his recent 
failure. He also has a good many enemies in the navy. 
In private life he has agreeable manners. He is short in 
stature, but his head is well shaped. He is over fifty, 
and was born in Ireland. He married one of the prettiest 
Canadians ever imported into England. 

The most popular of the foreign princes in the service 
of England is Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, brother of 
Prince Gustavus of Saxe Weimar, whom I mentioned in 
my letters from Vienna. I cannot speak of Prince Ed- 
ward and Prince Gustavus without recalling the sympa- 
thetic face of another brother, Prince Hermann, who lives 
at Stuttgart. He is a man of exceptional moral worth, 
perhaps the most admirable prince in Europe, and I ad- 
mire and love him for the largeness and nobility of his 
mind, and the warmth of his heart. 

Prince Edward is a naturalized Englishman, and was 
born during his mother's residence at Bushey Park in 
1823. Her sister, Queen Adelaide, widow of William 
IV., having no children, adopted the young prince, under- 
took his education, brought him up as her own son, and 
made a thorough Englishman of him. He entered the 
Grenadier Guards, and served as captain during the Cri- 
mean War, taking part in the battles of Alma and Bala- 
klava. He rose to the rank of General of Infantry, and 
will soon receive the rank of Field-marshal. He is now 
Governor of Portsmouth. 

His wife, a sister of the Duke of Richmond, is a very 
great lady, and does the honors of her house like a queen. 
She has a large share in the popularity of her husband. 

The navy boasts of many great men, but I will only 
mention Admiral Lord Alcester and Lord Charles Beres- 
ford, whose names are intimately connected with the 
Egyptian campaign. 

Lord Alcester, Commander of the Channel Fleet, is 



100 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

sixty -four years of age. He was intrusted with the bom- 
bardment of Alexandria. He is one of those rare men 
who have the good-fortune to succeed without making 
enemies. He is every man's friend, and never having 
wounded or offended any, he is extremely popular in the 
navy, where popularity is difficult to win. He enjoys the 
confidence of his subordinates, and he could lead them 
everywhere. His fine figure, that looks so well in his ad- 
miral's uniform, as he paces the quarter-deck, has got him 
the nickname of " the Swell of the Ocean." Much liked 
in society, he has a large circle of friends, and his epis- 
tolary taste leads him to keep up a very active corre- 
spondence. 

A glorious career may be predicted for the gallant tar, 
Lord Charles Beresford, whose services as commander of 
the Condor are still fresh in every one's memory. Frank 
and simple, of a generous, open disposition, he is always 
ready to do noble deeds, and has more than once risked 
his life to save the lives of the humblest men who were 
drowning, and whom no one else on board would have as- 
sisted. In any danger he is always well to the front. 
He is a great friend and favorite of the Prince of Wales, 
and went with him to India as naval aide-de-camp. He 
will one day have the command of the Mediterranean 
Fleet. He is much regretted in Parliament, where he sat 
for six years. His speeches — careful, but not pedantic, 
earnest, and unaffected — were distinguished for their tact 
and good taste, and he is as much at home in the House 
as on the deck of his ship. He is a moderate Conservative. 

In the first campaign in Egypt Lord Wolseley did not 
give Lord Charles Beresford the position he deserved. 
After services so brilliant and so decisive, he had a right 
to the first rank in the staff of the Khedive. But he has 
the future before him. In the campaign of the Soudan 
he has done wonders, and Lord Wolseley has compli- 
mented him in the presence of the whole army. 



THE MEN OP THE DAT. 101 

In the expedition across the desert Lord Charles found 
himself admiral of a fleet of camels. An amusing in- 
cident is his finding, in one of his first campaigns a little 
Chinese boy, who became his servant, and was one of the 
most comical little creatures ever seen. Lord Charles 
Beresford's wife is one of the prettiest and most charm- 
ing women in London. 

Col. Henderson, the head of the police, is a curious and 
interesting person. He has occupied a number of posi- 
tions which most people would not have considered very- 
delightful. He was sent as Government Commissioner 
to settle the boundaries of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick; was almost killed, and remained for five days with- 
out food. Next he was sent to New South Wales, as head 
of the Convict System there ; afterwards he was made 
Director and Inspector-general of London Prisons. He 
is now at the head of the police force, a post that he fills 
as if he had been specially made by Heaven for the pur- 
pose. There is not a policeman who does not respect and 
love him. He is a loyal-hearted, kindly man, quite unsus- 
picious; so that in his presence no one feels inclined to 
make mysteries, but becomes frank and confidential. He 
has never betrayed a professional secret; and yet what 
curious memoirs he could write ! He is an artist of some 
merit, and a pleasant companion. 

One word about the Attorney - general, Sir Henry 
James. He is the most witty man in London. 

Who does not know the Director of the South Ken- 
sington Museum, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, the author and 
organizer of all the great exhibitions in which England 
has taken part? Fifty-six years of age, the son of a sail- 
or, plain-dealing, obliging, with frank, agreeable manners, 
and a kindly nature, a hard worker, a great linguist, and 
thoroughly well acquainted with his Museum. 

Let us now talk of the best known and most envied 
woman in the three kingdoms, the Baroness Burdett- 



102 THE WORLD OP LONDON. 

Coutts. Her grandfather, a Scottish Lowlander, married, 
for his second wife, the celebrated actress, Miss Mellon, 
afterwards Duchess of St. Albans, who, at her death, left 
all her fortune to Miss Angela Burdett, who thus became 
the richest heiress in London, and had to reject many as- 
pirants to her hand. She was, however, a woman of good- 
sense, judgment, and energy, and she skilfully piloted her 
way, avoiding rocks and shoals, and took for her compan- 
ion and ally a Mrs. Brown, who remained faithful to her 
all her life. 

The Baroness was a friend of Napoleon III. Her fort- 
une is very large, and she devotes much of it to good 
works. She has founded a bishopric, and built Columbia 
Market; indeed, her benevolence and her generosity are 
as inexhaustible as her wealth. She has been the patron- 
ess and friend of many men who have since become em- 
inent — Sir James Brook, the Rajah of Sarawak, Henry 
Irving, etc. With an impulsive nature, and much warmth 
of heart, she has also great sagacity and self-control; she 
is remarkably well informed, and keeps herself ait con- 
rant of every subject. 

When she gives fetes it is done right royally. One 
day she invited the whole of the Belgian volunteers. 

About six years ago she lost her faithful companion, 
and the death of this valuable friend induced her to alle- 
viate her solitary existence by marrying her secretary, 
Mr. Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett is a handsome man, tall, and 
well made, with regular features, and a very agreeable 
face. Mr. Bartlett is sagacious, energetic, and intelligent, 
He understands the importance of his position as the 
husband of the Baroness. His wife is saluted by the peo- 
ple as if she were a queen. 



POWERS IN THE STATE. 103 



Fourteenth Letter. 
powers in the state. 

CLUBS— TnE PRESS. 

The mass of the people imagine that a State is ruled by- 
means of great institutions, but in reality a State is gov- 
erned by influences; and the men who bear official titles, 
and are seen and judged and considered responsible by 
the public, are only the outward manifestation of all that 
acts upon them. 

Mr. Gladstone made war in Egypt under the pressure 
of the capitalists. 

How many statesmen, like Lord Hartington, form their 
will on the will of another ! How many obey occult in- 
fluences ! How many are the slaves of interests foreign 
to that of the State — interests of money, family ! 

Under cover of social customs, political salons play a 
very active part in London Parliamentary life. 

I have already spoken of the principal political salons 
of London: that of Lord Spencer is the most attractive ; 
Lord Granville's is too official ; and the receptions of Sir 
W. Vernon Harcourt are dull. Lord Salisbury and Sir 
Algernon Borthwick have salons that are largely at- 
tended. 

Many influences make themselves felt in politics ; there 
is the influence of the Church, the influence of the univer- 
sities, the influence of leagues, agrarian leagues, peace par- 
ties, parties of arbitration, of education, etc., which con- 
stantly harass the ministers. 



104 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 

But the great authority that governs England — a power 
unknown in other countries — is the influence of the Clubs 
and the Press. 

I will not try to give you a description of all the clubs; 
it would fill volumes ; I will only sketch the political 
clubs. 

Clubs. — The role played by clubs in England in no way 
resembles that which belongs to those institutions on the 
Continent. They represent every opinion, all social wants 
and all pleasures. There are clubs political, diplomatic, 
literary, dramatic, financial, naval, military, etc. — the list 
is a long one. There are also philanthropic clubs, re- 
ligious clubs, clubs for workmen and clubs for women. I 
am silent upon those that only belong to sports, music, 
art, etc., and those that have no special aim. 

The most interesting club of all, that which makes and 
unmakes men, the occult force that governs England, is 
the political club. The Carlton Club, fortress of the To- 
ries, and the Reform Club, the intrenched camp of the 
Liberals, form the antechamber to Parliament. Laws are 
there discussed, decisions taken, lines of conduct decided 
on before arriving at the Palace of Westminster, which 
has itself been called " The Great Western Club." There 
meetings are held by groups of politicians, and the policy 
of the country is planned. A leader of Parliament never 
fails a meeting of his party at the club, although he may 
not be present at the sitting of the House. 

A little incident will prove how jealous the clubs are 
of the integrity of their principles. Mr. Carvell Will- 
iams, the champion of the party for the separation of 
Church and State, having tried to enter the Reform Club, 
was blackballed for his political opinions. The club 
wished to show that the principle of the separation of 
Church and State did not form a part of the programme 
of its party. 

Mr. Gladstone laid, a short time ago, the first stone of 



POWERS IN THE STATE, 105 

the National Liberal Club in Northumberland Avenue, 
which already counts about 3500 applicants in the prov- 
inces, and 2000 or 3000 in London. The aim of these two 
clubs is not to have, as formerly, a kind of choice restau- 
rant, but to create a centre, where electors can exchange 
their opinions, members meet their leaders, where the 
party can hold its meetings, and debate its resolutions — a 
kind of grand preparatory council, a chamber of opinion, 
head-quarters whence orders will be issued. 

There are many other clubs besides those I have men- 
tioned. The Conservatives have the Conservative, the 
Beaconsfield, the Junior Carlton, the St. Stephen's, etc.; 
the Liberals the Devonshire, of which Lord Hartington 
is the President, the Cobden, etc. There is also the 
St. James's, the club of ambassadors and the diplomatic 
world, and a number of others, including a French club, 
La Societe Rationale Franpaise, that is in a very prosper- 
ous condition. 

The clubs have long governed the country ; they were 
the hot-beds of politics ; newspapers got their inspiration 
from them, and echoed their ideas, deciding all questions 
after them ; and the provinces received their opinions 
ready-made from the journals, which had taken theirs 
from the clubs. Now a new movement of decentraliza- 
tion has begun ; politicians have reversed the old custom, 
and instead of shutting themselves up in their clubs, they 
go to their counties, make speeches, listen to and consult 
the people, and then come back and make their wants 
known in London. It is a reversion of things that has 
been very salutary to the country, and it is due especially 
to Mr. Gladstone, the propagator of this principle, for 
which reason he is all-powerful in the provinces. The 
influence of the political clubs is, however, still very 
great ; they remain the basis of operation for the manoeu- 
vres of each Parliamentary group ; and the politicians 
and leading journals, feeling the common danger to their 



108 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 

influence, have become reconciled to each other, and coa- 
lesced. 

The Press. — The Continental Press gives no idea what- 
ever of the English Press. It is impossible to conceive its 
importance without having made a special study of it. 
The Press everywhere holds the first place, and it is not, 
as, it has been called, the fourth estate, but the first. It 
is the Press that governs England ; a great journal like 
the Daily Telegraph is as powerful as Mr. Gladstone, and 
the Times is more powerful than both Houses of Parlia- 
ment. 

The Press has a legislative initiative to which Parlia- 
ment submits; it inspects and controls the Ministry, and 
fulfils the functions of the Ministers themselves. It has 
become the best of ambassadors, and is justly called "the 
grand inquisitor of the nation." The journals compose a 
popular Parliament — a court of justice, a school of criti- 
cism on all the questions of the day, politics, morality, re- 
ligion, taste, fashion, etc. And as advertising plays a 
considerable part in English life, the newspaper is the 
greatest merchant in all England. 

To what does the Press owe its power, which dates from 
the Reform Bill of 1831? To the following causes: 

Journals of party, of conflict, and of recrimination have 
almost disappeared; the organs of any value are bought 
by companies, and do not belong to any particular Minis- 
ter or member, or to any special Parliamentary group. 
They have their individual tone, but are completely in- 
dependent. This is the secret of their power ; and one 
of the causes of that independence is that no article is 
signed. 

The English Press has a high position, and is entitled 
to the respect of all for its perfect honor. The journal- 
ists are able men, who inspire their readers with absolute 
confidence, never bringing each other into disrepute by 
injudicious attacks. Personalities between journalists 



POWERS IN THE STATE. 107 

have ceased, and duels are unknown. Thanks to its sys- 
tem of correspondence all over the world, the English 
Press is usually better informed than the Ministers them- 
selves, and is less exposed to being misled by ignorant, 
interested, or mistaken ambassadors. Its leading articles 
are like Ministerial speeches. It seizes upon all great 
ideas, treats them with dignity, elevates them, makes the 
country take an interest in them, and forces them upon 
the legislators. It was the Press that fought the battles 
of the Corn-laws, Free-trade, and nearly every other great 
reform. 

It may almost be said that the English Press has organ- 
ized England, and that in the accomplishment of this 
work it discovered its own power. Sir Robert Peel often 
said that, supported by the Press, he could defy Parlia- 
ment. 

How many times Members and Ministers have found 
their policy and materials for their speeches in the argu- 
ments of the Times! 

A few years ago the journals were not the leaders of 
public opinion, they only expressed it ; but the Press 
became independent, and suffering no tutelage from Gov- 
ernment or Parliament, assumes the glorious responsibili- 
ty of leading opinion, and with a phalanx of such remark- 
able men at its head, no one contests its right to be the 
pioneer and scout. 

The Press has destroyed the secret life of courts, par- 
liaments, embassies, finance, business, etc. ; everything is 
now done in broad daylight, and everything is open to 
the reporter. The society papers have their moral in- 
fluence, like the political and social satires of the comic 
journals ; and let us add that the English Press shows 
more tact and good taste than the public itself. 

The monopoly of the guidance of public opinion does 
not belong entirely to the great London newspapers. Ev- 
ery town now has its daily papers, which have followed 



108 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

the example of those of the metropolis, and are as much 
respected and listened to. The provincial press is as rich 
and as well-informed as that of London. The Manchester 
Guardian, for instance, makes nearly £40,000 a year, and 
rivals the Times. The influence of the London newspa- 
pers upon the provinces has therefore diminished, espe- 
cially since politicians, escaping from the too exclusive 
atmosphere of the clubs, have addressed themselves direct- 
ly to the country, and instead of dictating to it, learn its 
actual needs and wishes. 



JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS. 109 



Fifteenth Letter. 
journals and journalists. 

In London the press enjoys unlimited liberty, but has 
the good taste and prudence not to abuse it. Only the 
" Society " journals are ever prosecuted, and to them the 
process is a good advertisement. 

There are in London several hundred newspapers; these 
may be divided into — 

Large and small daily papers. 

Special journals, local, comic, illustrated and society 
papers. 

Reviews and magazines. 

Miscellaneous publications. 

The most important daily papers are, the Times, the 
Daily Telegraph, the Standard, the Daily News, the 
Morning Post, the Daily Chronicle, the Pall Mall Ga- 
zette, the St. James's Gazette, the Globe, and the Echo. 

The Times, which is the greatest European newspaper, 
for a long time enjoyed absolute sovereignty; but now it 
has rivals in the journals that I have just named. It be- 
longs to no political party, and in order to preserve its 
entire independence and its neutrality, it keeps aloof from 
politicians in office. The Times is especially the business 
journal — the organ of the city. For two generations its 
authority has prevailed in all Parliamentary and legislat- 
ive questions; it is still an oracle for nine persons out of 
ten, and when it gives its opinion in a discussion, the 
cause that it supports is won. All foreign journals ana- 
lyze or reproduce its articles, and in certain countries the 
policy of the Times is looked upon as the policy of Eng- 



110 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 

laud, and is accepted or disputed by friends and foes in 
the form given it by the journal of the city. In India, 
Cairo, and Constantinople, the Times lays down the law 
with regard to the Eastern question and its connection 
with the interests of England. 

All the most eminent writers of the political and liter- 
ary world have contributed to the Times; and even seri- 
ous authors, who generally prefer to write in the reviews 
rather than in newspapers, have always made an excep- 
tion in its favor. Barnes used to read the leading re- 
views with great care, and whenever he discovered a man 
of mark would attach him to the staff of the Times. Now' 
the great rival organs have contributors who equal those 
of the Times; but no other paper has the prestige that 
gives such importance to everything published in it. It 
is the only journal that costs threepence, all the others be- 
ing sold at a penny. 

The Daily Telegraph is next, if not equal, in importance 
to the Times. It has shown intelligence in the choice of 
its contributors, and was the means of introducing George 
Augustus Sala — the most original and perhaps the most 
popular of English journalists. It was the Daily Tele- 
graph that sent Stanley to explore Africa, and Mr. George 
Smith, the ai-chsoologist, to excavate Assyria and Mesopo- 
tamia, where he found marvels, and among other things 
the Assyrian narrative of the deluge. It is a curious fact 
that the Daily Telegraph came as a bad debt into the 
hands of Messrs. Levy & Lawson, who now owe the great- 
est part of their fortune -to it. Formerly Liberal, it has 
become Conservative, or Liberal-Conservative, and it is 
asserted that this conversion was effected by Lord Bea- 
consfield. It is a journal of the highest value, admirably 
w r ell-informed, prudent, thoughtful, and analytical in its 
opinions, and it possesses great authority. 

The Standard, the champion of Protestantism, the de- 
fender of the Throne and of the Constitution, had long 



JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS. Ill 

been simply an echo of the Conservative leaders, the re- 
flection of Lord Derby and Disraeli ; but since Mr. Mud- 
ford has been at its head, it has become an independent 
Conservative. Like the Telegraph, the Standard is a pa- 
per of the first rank, and any one interested in politics is 
bound to read it, for all questions are thoroughly dis- 
cussed in it. If a journal were not now independent, it 
would soon find itself without readers. The time has 
passed when Pitt bought the Courier, tried, but in vain, 
to buy the Times, and founded the Sun to serve his party. 

The Daily Neics, called by Mr. Chamberlain the organ 
of the Dissenters, is now threatened with the withdrawal 
of their patronage, for they accuse it of not taking suffi- 
cient interest in them, and of too great leniency towards 
the Established Church. The Daily News can afford to 
disregard these reproaches. It is the organ of Gladstonian 
Liberalism, though it does not hesitate to attack the Cab- 
inet when errors are committed. Its success has greatly 
increased since the Franco-German war, as Mr. Robinson, 
its editor, had the good-fortune to secure the services of 
Mr. Archibald Forbes, who has raised it to the unique 
position it now occupies. Another contributor, Mr. La- 
bouchere, voluntarily stayed in Paris during the siege 
and sent such remarkable accounts of it that they greatly 
added to the success of the journal. The Daily News is 
the most important of the Liberal organs; it therefore 
does not love Lord Randolph Churchill, and reduces his 
speeches to ten lines. It has boasted a number of cele- 
brated contributors. Mr. Frank H. Hill's " Political Por- 
traits " do honor both to the writer and to the journal that 
published them. 

The Morning Post, a journal of the fashionable world, 
is directed by Sir Algernon Borthwick, an eminent writer 
and good speaker. It was formerly the organ of Lord 
Palmerston and Napoleon III., which proves the good un- 
derstanding that existed between these two. Created in 

8 



112 TIIE WORLD OF LONDON. 

17*72, it is the oldest of the London newspapers. It is in- 
dependent, although it has always supported the Throne, 
the Church, the rights of property, and the aristocracy, 
to which it entirely belongs. The Morning Post always 
has special and very valuable information on diplomatic 
affairs. Sir Algernon Borthwiclc has studied politics 
abroad, and is much imbued with French ideas. He is a 
perfect man of the world, with polished manners, and is 
much liked and esteemed. 

The Pall Mall Gazette was originated as an evening 
paper, and with the idea of applying the system of re- 
views to newspapers. It was Conservative ; but four 
years ago Mr. John Morley, a nephew of the proprietor, 
inherited the journal, and had the audacity to transform I 
it the very next day into a Radical organ. He lost many 
of his readers, but found a great many more ; and it has 
now become the special organ of cultivated and independ- 
ent Radicalism. It was, and still is, a journal written by 
gentlemen for gentlemen. It was the first to call atten- 
tion to the defective state of the navy. Mr. John Morley, 
M. P., an extremely agreeable and very distinguished 
man, is one of the ornaments of his profession, and does 
honor to it. 

The St. James's Gazette is an excellent journal of criti- 
cism, politics, and social facts. 

I must pass in silence over hundreds of journals in Lon- 
don, and only mention a few of the most interesting pub- 
lications, such as Truth, the Referee, the Sunday Times, 
the World, the Athenaeum, Tit Bits, the Stage, a theatrical 
journal that gives twenty-four pages of news for twopence, 
and the Era. Must I remind you of the comic illustrated 
journals, such as Punch, Judy, Fun, Funny Folks, etc.? 
Punch has been fortunate enough to possess for more than 
thirty years the rival of Garvarni, the charming artist Du 
Maurier. I must give special mention to the best and 
most satirical society paper, Vanity Fat?; in which a por- 



JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS. 113 

trait caricature of one of the celebrities of the day ap- 
pears every week, signed "Ape" (Pelegrini) and "Spy" 
(Leslie Ward); these are masterpieces of drawing and 
humor. The journal is edited with tact and skill by Mr. 
Thomas Gibson Bowles, who signs "Jehu Junior" to the 
excellent articles written by his hand. Vanity Fair is 
the most amusing society journal in existence, and I have 
been glad to borrow some excellent things from it. 

The reviews are to newspapers what the House of Lords 
is to the Commons, a moderating power. The Edin- 
burgh, Quarterly, Contemporary, Westminster, Nineteenth 
Century, and the Fortnightly reviews are great and pow- 
erful organs, known all over the world. The Saturday 
Mevieio sets an example of complete independence ; like 
the 1'imes, it even excludes from its staff politicians in 
office, to whatever party they belong. It possesses the 
best pens of Oxford and of Cambridge, of the Temple 
and of Lincoln's Inn, of the Church and of the State. 
The Spectator is a formidable rival to it. 

English journals have no feuilletons. Before tele- 
graphic communication the rivalry in the press consisted 
of how to obtain and publish despatches from India in 
the quickest manner. Now telegraphs and railways have 
combined to satisfy the requirements of English readers 
at a low rate. A wire to India only costs the journals 
£40 a month, and they have the right to send a hundred 
words for a shilling. The Loudon newspapers, in order 
to compete with those of the provinces, have united to 
send special trains at 3 a.m. that carry the earliest issues 
in all directions. I may add that the press has its agen- 
cies, the Central News Agency, the Press Association, and 
Reuter's Telegraphic Service, and its head - quarters are 
Fleet Street and the Strand. 

Journalism, although so honored in England, does not 
lead to anything, and opens no door, especially not that 
of Parliament. The journalists remain anonymous and 



214 TIIE WORLD OF LONDON. 

unknown, and never openly take part in any public strug- 
gle ; they have general rather than personal prestige, and 
except for the proprietors of large journals, their profes- 
sion does not lead to fortune. The journalists sitting in 
Parliament do not owe their position to their pens. 

Mr. George Augustus Sala is the most popular journal- 
ist in London. He has been an author, engraver, lecturer, 
critic, caricaturist, and pantomime writer. Hardworking, 
energetic, possessing all kinds of talents, he devoted him- 
self to journalism, and as correspondent to the Daily Tele- 
graph his reputation was instantly made. He is the most 
witty and the most amusing writer in the world ; he de- 
picts all that he sees in an animated, striking manner, and 
lends new interest to the most ordinary subjects. He is 
a very amiable man, with a great mind and a great heart, 
and his knowledge is perfectly encyclopedic. 

But the most extraordinary person among journalists is 
Mr. Archibald Forbes. At first sight you would take him 
for a German officer, with his white helmet, white jacket 
and breeches, and high boots, a knapsack, and large field- 
glasses, and a pipe stuck in his waistband. The son of a 
Scotch clergyman, with a passion for adventure, he first 
entered the army, when he wrote very curious descrip- 
tions of military life, and afterwards he became a journal- 
ist. He is the most perfect type of the war correspondent. 

He witnessed the Indian famine, and afterwards went 
to India with the Prince of Wales. He followed the 
Carlist war, and the war in Servia, also the campaigns in 
Ashantee and Zululand. 

Mr. Forbes's writings are not mere reporting, but histor- 
ical documents. He has described royal visits, explosions 
in mines, battles, shipwrecks, and sieges, and he has risked 
his life a hundred times. He passes about two years out 
of seven in London. He is a widower, and has two 
charming daughters. 

From time to time he gives lectures about his distant 



JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS. 115 

enterprises, and I have often gone to London on purpose 
to enjoy the treat. 

Mr. Burnand, the editor of Punch, the prolific author 
of a number of burlesques and the adapter of a great 
many French pieces, is an ardent Catholic. He is a very 
brilliant man, and a hard worker ; he has almost trans- 
formed Punch, and his " Happy Thoughts "are some of 
the most amusing that have ever been published. He has 
a dozen children, many friends, and no enemies. 

Mr. Edmund Yates, the founder of the World, was for 
many years employed at the Post-office. He has written 
some novels and his own memoirs, edited Temple Bar 
Magazine, given very successful lectures in America, and 
travelled a great deal in Europe as correspondent of the 
New York Herald. 

Who does not know Mr. Labouchere, the editor of 
Truth and member of Parliament, who wants to suppress 
the Monarchy, the Church, and the Lords ? Many people 
try to appear better than they are; Mr. Labouchere en- 
deavors to give a formidable idea of himself; he is a kind, 
generous, warm-hearted man. His conversation is most 
attractive, most brilliant, and most amusing. He is fifty- 
three years old, and entered the diplomatic circle before 
trying journalism. He has been editor of newspapers and 
manager of theatres. In Parliament he is a new Juvenal, 
and much dreaded. He has undertaken great commercial 
and financial speculations. 

Baron Reuter is a German: he established his first tele- 
graphic agency at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1849, and came to 
London in 1851, as soon as the first submarine cable was 
laid. His success dates from the day when he gave the 
threatening speech of Napoleon III. to the Austrian Am- 
bassador — preliminary to the war in Italy — to London an 
hour after it had been made. 

Now he has not only the monopoly of the foreign news 
of the entire world, but no other agency can compete with 



116 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

him. In the smallest towns lie has agents in communica- 
tion with ministers, bankers, governors, all those who fur- 
nish news; and this man, who holds in his hand the tele- 
graphic wires of all Europe, who knows before any one 
all the political and financial news of the world, yet has 
never used this mighty machinery for any personal end. 
What greater praise can be awarded him? 

During the Franco - Prussian war, Berlin learned 
through him the triumphs of the German army. A natu- 
ralized Englishman, he was created a baron by a German 
prince in gratitude for his services. Respected, rich, pow- 
erful, he is most popular in society. His wife is amiable 
and hospitable. English society has made the Baron 
warmly welcome, and he returns its good-will by great 
affection for England. 



LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN. 117 



Sixteenth Letter. 
literary and scientific men. 

Scientific men are scarcely to be found in society, not 
because it is closed to them, but these learned people are 
very independent, and detest fashion. They whose gen- 
ius directs human thought cannot find any pleasure in 
drawing-rooms. Study is their reward, and also their 
only pleasure. Darwin, a simple, unassuming man, whose 
mind influenced the whole world, did not even appear at 
the Royal Society, or at most, only went there once a year. 
He preferred his little paradise at Down, in Kent, and the 
society of his children and his books. 

The Royal Society has not the solemnity of the Societe 
de France; it is a kind of scientific club, and, like all 
English institutions, more private than official. The num- 
ber of members is unlimited, and they do not receive any 
salary; but, on the contrary, pay a subscription in order 
to belong to it. 

They are not troubled by any uniform, and know noth- 
ing of badges, precedence, or restrictive regulations. 
Except that its advice is asked by the Government on 
rare occasions, when there is a question of some scientific 
mission, the Royal Society has nothing to do with the 
State. It has about COO members, and makes itself known 
to the public by publishing at its own expense "Philo- 
sophical Transactions." The members of the Royal So- 
ciety are worthy citizens, w r ho meet once a week at about 
half-past eight in the evening, and religiously retire before 
twelve o'clock. 

The Royal Institution is very fashionable. The lect- 



118 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

urcs given there are well attended, and offer an intellect- 
ual treat, for they are delivered by the greatest scientific 
men in England. 

Besides the meetings of the Royal Institution, there 
are those of the Birkbeck, of the British Association, etc. ; 
a mere list of their names would take me too long. 

Among lecturers, Professor Tyndall is the favorite, and 
occupies at the Royal Institution the room formerly in- 
habited by Faraday and Davy. He is well known in 
Switzerland, where he makes scientific researches every 
year among the glaciers. Those who have not the good- 
fortune to be admitted to his lectures, or who have not 
climbed mountains with him, have never seen him ; for 
these are the only occasions when he can be found out of 
his laboratory. These apostles of science for the love of 
science are the true type of the English savant; and in 
their society you breathe an atmosphere of honor, integ- 
rity, and of untiring work. The greatest simplicity rules 
their lives. To describe one is to describe them all, and 
though I could talk to you about Siemens, Ferguson, Hux- 
ley, Sir Joseph Hooker, and many more, I will content my- 
self with a few words about Proctor and Sir John Lub- 
bock, two very interesting types. 

Professor Proctor, the great astronomer, is Secretary to 
the Royal Cosmographical Society. He has given lectures 
in Australia and in America. He is only forty-six years 
of age, but has written much and produced much. He is 
the editor of Knowledge. 

Sir John Lubbock, the patron of ants, is a very interest- 
ing person, member and president of several scientific so- 
cieties; most highly thought of in the commercial world 
(he is a banker), in the political world (he is an M.P.), in 
the learned world (he is a naturalist), in the literary world 
(he is the author of a remarkable book on the origin of 
civilization and the primitive condition of man); honors 
and titles have fallen at his feet without his having sought 



Literary and scientific men. 119 

them ; tbey are simple tributes of respect and admira- 
tion. 

He loves flowers, children, bees, ants — everything lili- 
putian in nature; the weak are the constant objects of his 
solicitude. A benefactor to clerks, he promoted the bank 
holiday, or holiday given four times a year to all clerks 
and assistants, and called in his honor " Saint Lubbock." 
His studies on ants are as interesting and amusing as a novel. 

In politics, Sir John Lubbock, who represents the Uni- 
rersity of London, is Liberal, but moderate in his views. 
He does not seek the overthrow of the English Church or 
the House of Lords, or of any established institution. He 
is just, upright, and independent; considerations of party 
have no influence with him. 

What can I say of literary men in so short a space? they' 
deserve special study and an entire volume. Drama and 
fiction have many writers, and the women who use the pen 
occupy a brilliant place in the phalanx. The novels of the 
late George Eliot, Miss Braddon, Mrs. Henry Wood, Mrs. 
Oliphant, and of many others, are well known allover the 
Continent. Death has lately made great gaps in the world 
of literature, and struck down Darwin, Anthony Trollope, 
George Eliot, Thackeray, Carlyle, and a few years ago 
Dickens and Stuart Mill. 

Wilkie Collins may be called the inventor of the sensa- 
tional novel. His plan is to pique curiosity and excite 
surprise, enchaining the reader to every page, and forc- 
ing him to go on, even against his will, to the end of the 
book. The plot of his novels is a labyrinth. Who does 
not know "Armadale," "No Name," "The Woman in 
White," etc.? 

In London there are a considerable number of novel- 
\rriters, most of whom have ability, and many talent of 
the highest order. 

Poetry possesses Lord Tennyson, the Poet-laureate, a 
favorite with the Queen, the Court, and the aristocracy ; 
but who has the great defect of being too English, and of 



120 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

wrapping himself in supreme disdain for everything that 
is not British. He looks sadly upon things, and writes 
without enthusiasm or passion. The beautiful and true 
act upon him, but never take possession of him; and he is 
still inspired by the fables of history, of which, I think, 
we have already heard enough; and though he loves great 
heroes, he is not himself great enough to measure them. 
He has a perfect style and complete mastery over the 
English language. 

It may be said that Tennyson had prepared the way for 
Ruskin — that strange and mighty critic, who makes or 
ruins an artist with a stroke of his pen. Ruskin has ex- 
ercised on his generation an influence as wide and more 
deep than that of Carlyle. In matters of taste, and in the 
art of the beautiful, Carlyle suggested many problems, but 
Ruskin has solved them. Ruskin is an Olympian without 
being so archaic as Tennyson. His spirit lives in light, and 
his ideal is not that of our time. He has the antique pas- 
sion for the beautiful. For more than half a century he 
has been preaching his crusade, and the ignorant masses 
are guided by him as by a beacon. He leads them to- 
wards the dawn, but does not enlighten them ; charms, 
but cannot convince them; the cultured alone, the elect, 
appreciate his criticisms and admire them, though they 
are sometimes rather harsh. 

Browning, the antithesis of Tennyson, is always look- 
ing forward, thirsting for progress, longing for the ideal. 
His dreams even go beyond what he can accomplish, he 
tries to drag inert humanity along with him, and each of 
his lines says distinctly "Follow me." 

Among English j^oets some turn to the past, others to 
the future; but they all do their utmost to raise the moral 
level of the nation by their generous aspirations. 

Poets and literary men are much thought of in society, 
and most of them become rich; for English publishers are 
intelligent men, who leave a large share of the profits to a 
well-known writer. 



PAINTERS AND THEIR STUDIOS. 121 



Seventeenth Letter. 
painters and their studios. 

During the last thirty years art has made great prog- 
ress in England, and the movement that produced it has 
been increasing in force every day since 1851. Owing to 
the impetus then given by the first International Exhibi- 
tion the fine arts have begun to shed their beneficent in- 
fluence over the whole of Great Britain. In London the 
two principal temples of art are the Royal Academy, in 
Piccadilly, and the Schools of Art at South Kensington. 
The Royal Academy is not a State institution, but is gov- 
erned by a council composed of the principal artists of the 
country. It holds two exhibitions every year; one in the 
summer for the works of modern artists, the second dur- 
ing the winter, of paintings and drawings of the old mas- 
ters, and of deceased English artists. The success of these 
exhibitions has become so great that the Academy received 
last year the sum of £21,000 for shilling admissions. 

The instructions to pupils, given gratuitously by the 
Academicians, includes drawing, painting, sculpture, and 
architecture. 

In 1835 a commission was named in Parliament, on the 
proposal of Mr. Ewart, member for Liverpool, to study 
the best means of spreading a taste and knowledge of 
the fine arts. A school was opened in 1837, and in 1841 
the Government decided to establish schools of design in 
all the manufacturing districts, and a department of prac- 
tical arts was created under the superintendence of Sir 
Henry Cole, who worked for twenty years at the formation 
of the admirable and unique museum at South Kensington. 



122 THE WOULD OF LONDON. 

The Queen, on opening Parliament in 1853, urged the 
importance of giving free scope to cultivation of the fine 
arts. In 1844, £1295 was spent in Paris on an artistic col- 
lection for the School of Design, and £5000 was devoted 
to the purchase of the best productions of the Exhibition 
of 1851. The Prince Consort also bought the ground on 
which the South Kensington Museum now stands. 

There are now 160 schools of art in England in connec- 
tion with this Museum, not counting the multitude of 
private schools that have been opened for the study of 
the fine arts. Painting has at length won its rightful 
place; rich Englishmen all possess a picture-gallery, and 
a castle without one would do little honor to its owner. 
Painters are highly thought of, and received in the best 
society ; and the most celebrated artists live in luxurious, 
indeed princely, mansions. 

Fashionable visits to the studios take place on Sunday; 
and there is even a special " Studio Sunday," a month be- 
fore the opening of the Academy, when a pilgrimage is 
made to the studios of favorite artists. 

Among the most distinguished representatives of Eng- 
lish art are Sir Frederick Leighton, President and Trus- 
tee of the Royal Academy; John Everett Millais, Edward 
Poynter, G. F. Watts, Alma Tadema, Frank Holl, Edwin 
Long, Herkomer, Hunt, Fildes, Burne- Jones, Boughton, 
Whistler, Pettie, Ouless, W. Crane, Cooper, etc. 

Sir Frederick Leighton is, as "Jehu Junior" says, "one 
of those delicate natures who have succeeded so well in 
driving out the savage from our human clay that noth- 
ing but the refined gentleman remains." He is a highly 
accomplished man, the first painter in England, an emi- 
nent sculptor, as the distinction he won at the Paris 
Salons proved. An admirable speaker, a great linguist, 
an exquisite musician, this gifted artist is also a remark- 
able tactician, and did honor to the artists' corps of volun- 
teers, of which he was colonel. He is a member of the 



PAINTERS AND THEIR STUDIOS. 123 

[nstitut de France. He is disinterested and unassuming, 
and for his fellow-artists he expresses nothing but praise 
and admiration. He speaks of Gainsborough with relig- 
ious enthusiasm; and he once spoke to me of the regret 
with which he had seen in the Bohemian quarters of the 
Luxembourg in Paris painters of extraordinary talent, 
who were prevented by poverty from taking their proper 
place in the world. 

Sir Frederick, although rather gray, is in the prime of 
life. He has studied in all the schools of Europe, espe- 
cially in Italy. When talking with him his courteous 
manners and his perfect accent make you think that he 
is a Parisian, and you fancy you have met him in the 
Rue de l'Ouest; but suddenly you say, "No, he is an 
Italian — a son of the Capitol; I remember having seen 
him lounging along the Corso;" or you may have ob- 
served him in the Mosques, or at the Alhambra; for this 
great traveller has been to all the cradle-lands of art, as 
far as Persia and the country of the Moors. I must tell 
you about the palace he has built for himself in the Hol- 
land Park Road — a temple of taste, which even Ruskin 
might praise. In the entrance-hali every inch of walls 
and ceiling is adorned by some work of art, and the floor 
is inlaid with mosaics of subdued coloring. A large ves- 
tibule connects this hall with a sanctuary of art, where 
one gazes with delight on columns of rare marble, friezes 
of raised gold, window-frames of marvellous carved wood 
from the East, walls with precious stuccoes, a vaulted 
ceiling, from whose centre hangs an enormous Eastern 
chandelier. A thousand other objects attract notice, and 
the artistic effects of light capriciously shed on the walls 
of varying blue are simply fairylike. The walls of the 
rooms on the ground floor are hung with pictures by 
Corot, Constable, and Daubigny; their contents are porce- 
lain from Persia, vases from Rhodes, Japanese hangings, 
Turkey carpets, and many treasures of the East. 



124 TUE WORLD OF LONDON. 

A fine staircase, adorned with rare pictures, leads up to 
the first floor. Here is a delicious Arabian room ; and 
passing by works of Delacroix, Watts, Tintoret, Sebastian, 
Del Piombo, etc., one reaches the great studio, where the 
gems of this museum are accumulated. But there I must 
stop, and can only hope that you will one day inspect it for 
yourself, and enjoy the exquisite courtesy of its owner. 

One last word. A man may be known by his books; 
and Sir Frederick Leighton has in his library the master- 
pieces of all languages, from Aristotle, Pliny, and Ter- 
ence, to Goethe and Victor Hugo. He has painted the 
great frescoes in South Kensington Museum, also many 
well-known pictures and admirable mural decorations. 
His statues are life itself, and he is at this moment work- 
ing at a very fine figure. 

Close by is the studio of Mr. Watts, the head of the 
English idealistic school, and very well known besides as 
a painter of portraits, which really seem to live, speak, 
and move. I saw an excellent one of M. Thiers. Mr. 
Watts w T as a great friend and protege of Lord Holland. 
His first work that attracted notice is the one at West- 
minster, " Caractacus and his family taken prisoners to 
Rome." 

Whoever you are, you may knock at the door of Mr. 
Watts's house, and will be admitted with the simple for- 
mality of signing your name in the visitors' book. You 
enter a square hall containing a hundred or so of pictures 
by Mr. Watts. If you desire to see him, you then go up 
to his studio, and two great pictures dawn upon your 
view, " Death and Love" and " Love leading Life." Both 
of these form a good expression of his theories, his pref- 
erences, and his genius. 

At the request of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 
New York, he sent fifty of his pictures there — quite a lit- 
tle exhibition in themselves. 

I will now take you to the princely abode of Mr. Mil- 



PAINTERS AND THEIR STUDIOS. 125 

lais, the master of the realistic school, and a famous genre 
painter. The immense hall, crowded with treasures, is 
marvellous. A gigantic staircase leads to the landing- 
place of the first floor, where a seal in bronze coming out 
of a marble basin spouts water from its nostrils. The 
studio is vast, oblong, very high, well lighted and luxu- 
rious, and always contains a few pictures and some life- 
like portraits. 

Mr. Millais was born at Jersey, and brought up at Di- 
nan, where at five years of age he astonished the garrison 
by his military sketches. His style is his own; he has 
applied all his intellect to art, and frequently repeats that 
painting is nothing without thought. Struck by what he 
called the infidelity to nature in modern art, he formed 
with Hunt and Rosetti a pre - Raphaelite brotherhood, 
and they added to their signature on their pictures the 
letters "P. R. B." But he soon saw there was more af- 
fectation than truth in the new school, and abandoned 
his protest. The signature of the three letters only ap- 
pears on three of his pictures. 

Millais is kind to young artists. A painter, uncertain 
about himself, went one day to see him, and asked if he 
would not do better to turn farmer. Millais put a sum 
of money into his hand, and replied, " Work!" A short 
time after the young man finished a picture that was ad- 
mired even by the severe critic Ruskin. 

Millais is as popular as his work is celebrated, and ev- 
erybody knows " Chill October," " Sir Walter Raleigh," 
and others that are masterpieces and true poems. lie is 
an agreeable man, and welcomed in the highest society. 

Now we go to Regent's Park, and arrive at a house 
that I need not name, for it has been described so many 
times that you will recognize it at once. The owner of 
this very original dwelling is the kindly artist Alma Tad- 
ema, a simple, good - natured, communicative, unceremo- 
nious Dutchman. 



126 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

On the Italian facade of the great square house is a 
frieze of porcelain, and the Latin word salve. On the left 
are two rooms; in the first a piano, some pictures, and a 
charming portrait of Mrs. Tadema ; the second room 
opens into a conservatory adorned by a bust of the paint- 
er's charming wife, executed by Dalon. On the right a 
room, or rather a little museum, with a curious Japanese 
painting on silk, more than two yards long, hanging on 
the wall; above it ten old escutcheons in carved wood; 
the arms of the Corporation of Tailors of Leyden ; the 
window is formed of pretty Dutch panes. In the dining- 
room the large-patterned paper blends so harmoniously 
with the painted ceiling that the transition can scarcely 
be discovered. Above the chimney-piece is a full-length 
portrait of one of Alma Tadema's daughters. Beyond is 
a large and beautiful garden. 

Let us go up-stairs. The walls of the staircase are cov- 
ered with photographs of the artist's works. On the first 
floor we enter a little drawing-room all in gold, but of a 
dull harmonious tone. A mirror with a silver frame and 
several other objects stand out in relief from this well-de- 
signed background. The mantel-piece is adorned with a 
pretty bronze figure of Mrs. Tadema lying on a couch. 
The window is made of a multitude of little divisions 
filled with semi-transparent panes of Mexican onyx. But 
the wonder of this drawing-room is a piano that the art- 
ist himself has designed. It is a mixture of delicately 
blended colors and of exquisite and varied carving. On 
the sides there are bass-reliefs, and at the lower end of the 
piano a head of Orpheus in silver. 

Open the instrument and a surprise awaits you; it con- 
tains a treasure, for it is lined on the inside with vellum 
as white as ivory, and this is covered with autographs of 
all the most eminent artists in Europe. Alma Tadema is 
an excellent musician. 

We next enter an eastern boudoir, a kind of divan, 



PAINTERS AND TI1EIR STUDIOS. 127 

with a parquet in black and white. At last we reach the 
studio, a large room entirely painted in the Pompeian 
style, with pillars, frescoes, etc., and containing the re- 
production of the Library of Herculaneum. It is here 
that the master receives. 

Alma Tadema is a pupil of Leys, the great painter of 
Antwerp, and has lived in London for fifteen years. He 
was the first to color the walls of his studio, and dispelled 
the prejudice that they ought always to be of a uniform 
gray. He was at that time painting "The Education of 
the Children of Clotilde," and he used to try effects and 
practise upon the walls, which were soon covered with 
" Merovingian " costumes. 

His wife is also a distinguished artist ; she is very 
charming, and reminds me of another artist, the wife of 
Tinant, the sculptor, and mother of the young caricatur- 
ist, Robert Tinant, who died so young. 

Alma Tadema is leaving his present house for that 
formerly occupied by the French painter, Tissot. 

Alma Tadema has produced about two hundred and 
fifty pictures in oil or water-colors; and since his picture 
of the " Pyrrhean Dance," has taken a foremost place in 
London. 

One little anecdote about him. A young man went 
one day to his studio and asked him to give him lessons; 
he replied that he did not take pupils, and advised him 
to continue his studies by travel. When the young man 
returned, he renewed his request. "Well," said the art- 
ist, "I will give you lessons in this way: you shall name 
the subject for a picture; I will paint it in your studio 
while you look on, and then you shall buy it." 

This was done, and the young man profited so well by 
the lessons that he was enabled to paint the charming 
portrait of Mrs. Tadema which I have already mentioned. 
The picture painted under these conditions was " The Art- 
ist's Model," and was exhibited last year at the Paris Salon. 




log THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

A very curious person is Mr. Whistler, the American 
painter, out an agreeable man. He studied at Paris, 
where his first picture, " The White Girl," Avill be re- 
membered. He has painted in a house at Kensington an 
entire room, called the " Peacock " room — a marvellous 
piece of work. His drawing is much like that of Rem- 
brandt, but he is reproached with never finishing his 
pictures ; yet they are full of truth, and he only copies 
from nature. He is a correct draughtsman and has a 
true sense of color. 

Poynter has exercised great influence on decorative art, 
and effected much good, especially as director of the Fine 
Arts at the South Kensington Museum. 

Herkomer, whose hair and beard look as if they were 
blown by the wind, is a Bavarian, thirty-six years of age, 
with a fine head, and great enthusiasm. He is a rapid 
worker, an excellent painter, and a very interesting man. 
Born in America, the son of poor parents, he came and 
established himself in London, and is now a naturalized 
Englishman. A painter, sculptor, and even a good black- 
smith, he is clever at everything ; does not smoke or 
drink, and has made a large fortune. He is a clever and 
kindly critic, and a gay, generous companion. 

Carl Haag, also a Bavarian, is at the head of painters in 
w T ater- colors, a great favorite at the Court, and a conscien- 
tious artist, who, having travelled much in the East, can 
see nothing but the East, paint nothing but the East, and 
has built himself an extremely curious studio of Egyptian 
bric-d-brac. 

I should like to have spoken to you of Frank Holl, 
Hunt, Cooper, Beyle, whose fine " Apple Blossom " is so 
attractive, but I must refrain, and must also neglect the 
sculptors, or this letter will never end. 

Every one knows the woman washing a child, called 
here "The Dirty Boy," and the two ragamuffins disput- 
ing over the sale of a newspaper to a passer-by, "I am 



PAINTERS AND THEIR STUDIOS. 129 

first, sir." These very popular works are by Focardi, the 
sculptor, who has executed many others and is very suc- 
cessful in London. 

One word also of another sculptor, Count Gleichen, a 
nephew of the Queen, whose real name is His Serene High- 
ness Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugene Gustave Adolphe 
Constantin Frederic de Hohenlohe-Langenburg. He is a 
plain-dealing man, frank and open, very much liked ; he 
began his career in the navy, and dropped his title of ad- 
miral for that of sculptor. He served in the Crimea, and 
was wounded three times. He married the daughter of 
Admiral Seymour, and from that time abandoned the title 
of prince and uses the unassuming appellation of Count 
Gleichen. He lives at Windsor Castle, of which he is 
Governor. He has executed works of great merit, and 
among others a bust of Mary Anderson, last year. 



130 TIIE WORLD OF LONDON. 



Eighteenth Letter. 
theatres and amusements. 

Forty years ago the drama scarcely existed in London, 
but French pieces have been translated, and the taste for 
the theatre has gradually been developed. Dramatic au- 
thors have improved ; a few possess very great talent. 
Formerly theatres were to be let everywhere, but now 
they are competed for. A theatre is let in England ex- 
actly like a house, on lease by the year, the month, the 
week, or even for a single, performance. The manager is 
sometimes an author, but more frequently an actor. 

The fraternity of adapters has given rise to that of 
imitators, who, for want of time and talent, copy and pil- 
fer foreign pieces without scruple. 

There is no society with the power of imposing a uni- 
form author's fee on theatres ; the authors make their 
own arrangements with the managers, and the society that 
does exist only aims at obtaining the sums agreed upon. 
Every author fixes the price of his piece as he chooses. 

A good dramatic author can earn much money in Eng- 
land, but three-quarters of them have other occupations. 
The national English theatre lives on its rather limited 
repertory. I will not speak of the universal Shakespeare 
— the colossus who rules the world. The last century 
gave the theatre the comedies of Sheridan ; more recent- 
ly there has been a great number of dramatic writers of 
indisputable talent — Boucicault, Petitt, Conquest, Sims, 
Herman, John Taylor, etc. 

At the present time one of the most powerful dramatic 
authors is unquestionably Mr. Sims, w r ho seems to have 



THEATRES AND AMUSEMENTS. 131 

undertaken to revolutionize the English stage. He passes 
his life in studying the social strata of this new Babylon 
called London, and may be seen every morning in the 
very poorest quarters, mingling with vagrants, scamps, 
riffraff — the very dregs of society. Poverty, theft, un- 
blushing infamy, or cowering shame, nothing is unknown 
to him. 

Owing to the rich harvest that he gathers, his dramas 
give us heart-rending realistic scenes, where he mingles 
the evil of the upper classes and the evil of the mob in 
order to compare and stigmatize them all, and depicts 
generous self-sacrifice and greatness of soul contrasted 
with the poorest surroundings. He puts aside the con- 
ventionality of the drama, and cares only for what is real. 

Mr. Sims will certainly win a place in London similar 
to that occupied in France by Dumas and Sardou, and 
although the last comer, he is the favorite and most fash- 
ionable. 

English comedies, not having the resource of guilty 
love, are apt to be insipid. The dramas are, however, 
fine when they deal frankly with the national virtues and 
vices. Money, which plays so great a part in England, 
becomes the motive of adventurers of every kind — usur- 
ers, swindlers, thieves, burglars, etc. — and the scenes are 
rapid and amusing. 

The English have not yet a dramatic literature of their 
own. When they can venture to exhibit English society 
as it really is, they will find an inexhaustible supply of 
excellent pieces in real life. 

In consequence of the exorbitant demands of singers, 
the Italian opera is for the moment not to be heard in 
London. There have been several attempts at a French 
theatre. M. Mayer has revived the short French seasons, 
and this year has had a winter season. His success must 
be attributed to his choice of artists : Jane Hading, who 
made all London run after her j Jane May, who was much 



132 THE W0ELD OP LONDON. 

admired; the graceful, lively, fascinating Rose Lion, who 
played in every piece; and Mademoiselle Gerfaut, who 
became known in the "Pattes de Mouches," and at once 
took the first rank with these other three. The men — 
Shey, Didier, Colombey — are worthy of the best days of 
the French stage. 

The most talented actors are Irving, "Wilson Barrett, 
Madame Modjeska, Mrs. Kendal, and Ellen Terry. Noth- 
ing is more comical in London than the comic actors, and 
nothing worse than those who play the lover. Lionel 
Brough, Anson, Paulton, Roberts, and Toole would make 
the fortune of the Paris Palais Royal. 

The chorus singers are generally pretty, and there is an 
increasing number of young, fascinating, and clever ar- 
tistes, such as Florence St. John, Kate Munroe, Violet 
Cameron, Nellie Power, Miss Fortescue, and Lillian Rus- 
sell. 

The pieces are put upon the stage with lavish decora- 
tion and with charming effects of light. 

In short, like music and painting, the dramatic art is 
developing rapidly, and makes fresh strides every day. 
There is no national school of dramatic art in London, so 
that much talent is lost for lack of training, and many 
persons act who have not the least idea of their art ; but 
progress is evident, although it is made at random. 

Most of the theatres have done away with the necessity 
of buying a programme, and of leaving your great-coat in 
the cloak-room. When you have paid for your ticket you 
need not pay for anything else. Gratuities are forbidden, 
programmes are presented, the misery of narrow benches 
and of greedy box-keepers is unknown; the cloak-room is 
free, and the manager posts up everywhere " No fees." 



MUSIC. 133 



Nineteenth Letter. 
music. 

Nowhere is so much music beard as in London — from 
the music in the streets, to great concerts that are not 
confined to the numerous halls built on purpose for them, 
but invade the drawing-rooms of great houses, where a 
guinea is charged for the privilege of admission. Eng- 
lish ears seem never tired; and besides all this, schools 
and town-halls are used for concerts. 

London has no Conservatoire, though there are, it is 
true, a number of Schools of Music — the Royal College, 
the Royal Academy, the Guildhall School, and others ; 
but these are all either private undertakings^ or societies; 
the lessons are very expensive, and the teaching leaves 
much to be desired. For example, the Sol-fa and Theory 
of Music are not obligatory, and a scholar may receive 
honors and distinctions who cannot read a line of music 
at sight, or beat the time of a single bar. 

The winners of prizes and medals at these schools 
would not be allowed to compete for a prize in a Conserv- 
atoire on the Continent. If they wanted to do so they 
would have to begin their studies over again. 

The Royal College still wants a hundred thousand 
pounds, and is begging for money on all sides. But for 
all that concerns these institutions, and English music in 
general, I refer you to a very fair, well -written book, 
which is none the worse for being also amusing — "La 
Musique au Pays des Brouillards." 

The Guildhall School of Music is supported by the Cor- 
poration of the City. The school has from two to three 



134 THE WORLD OF LONDOX. 

thousand pupils, to whom a very small amount of teach- 
ing is allotted. The length of the lessons will give you an 
idea of this — twenty minutes a week ! 

There are plenty of private professors, but good ones 
are very scarce. The Grammar of Music is unknown in 
London, and no pupil would submit to being forced to 
learn it. The Sol-fa is here called Harmony. If you ask 
a young lady to beat the time of a piece, she tells you 
that she is not going to be the leader of an orchestra. 
Singing is even more badly taught ; the Sol-fa is not con- 
sidered to have anything to do with it, and, except by a 
few foreign professors, vocalization is not taught. It is 
not even necessary to ask whether you have a voice; you 
want to sing, and you sing, never mind how. You need 
not even give yourself the trouble of bringing out your 
voice, or of cultivating it. 

Among professional musicians there are many of great 
talent — Mackenzie, Dr. Stanford, etc. — who have succeed- 
ed Balfe and Sterndale Bennett; there are also classical 
composers like Macfarren and Cowan. The latter, whom 
the German masters are proud to call their pupil, has 
written some remarkable symphonies, oratorios, and even 
an opera, which place him in the first rank of modern 
composers; indeed his Scandinavian Symphony is a chef- 
d'oeuvre that will remain a standard work. There are also 
composers of light music : Sullivan, who writes very pret- 
ty romances, gay little operettas, and now and then seri- 
ous music; Strada, a delightful composer, who will soon 
be the most fashionable musician, and will, I think, shine 
at the theatres of Paris. His " Boutade," so popular in 
England, is the most original and charming piece that has 
ever been written for that unaccommodating instrument-^- 
the piano. There is also Ivan Caryll, w T ho, while waiting 
to be recalled to Paris, is making a position as a writer of 
operettas in London. I pass by many others, and per- 
haps the best, for the list might be a long one. The fa- 



music. 135 

vorite musicians are mostly Germans, who, indeed, are put 
at the head of every institution here, and who come from 
every quarter of Germany. 

The invasion began with Sir Julius Benedict, a pupil of 
Weber, and leader of the orchestra at the Opera at Vien- 
na, and afterwards of Saint Carlo. 

He came to London at thirty years of age, and has com- 
posed an opera and various pieces. He was knighted by 
the Queen, and, at the age of seventy-eight married for 
the second time. Benedict is at the head of the musical 
world in England, and has always been popular in so- 
ciety.* 

* Since this writing Sir Julius Benedict has died. 



136 THE WORLD OP LONDON. 



Twentieth Letter. 
the city and the lord mayor. 

You know that a part of London near the centre and 
entirely devoted to national and international business is 
called the City; an enormous mart, where, in thousands 
of agency offices, occupied from the cellar to the roof by 
business, all the commerce of England is centred. There 
the most colossal enterprises are planned and projected. 
This separate little corner, unique in the world, is still 
ruled by institutions of the Middle Ages, and exhibits a 
curious combination of progress and feudality, which 
makes it resemble a car dragged in opposite directions 
by two teams of horses. 

The City is under the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor 
— a magistrate chosen for a year from among the richest 
merchants who have reached the rank of Alderman and 
Sheriff. Outside the City the Lord Mayor is nobody. 
His palace — the Mansion House, opposite the Exchange 
and the Bank — has Guildhall for a branch establishment, 
a temple of justice, exclusively reserved for the -culprits 
of the City. 

I do not intend to describe the City in its commercial 
aspect, but only to depict what is supposed to be its so- 
ciety. I therefore leave men of business, who, indeed, 
do not exist after their hours of work, but shaking off 
the dust of their offices, belong to another w T orld. All 
these merchants love their old city, and from time im- 
memorial have formed a real court round their sovereign 
the Lord Mayor. 

The oi'ganization of the City is as follows: about one- 



THE CITY AND THE LORD MAYOR. 137 

fifth of the men of business who have their offices there 
have to elect a Municipal Council of 206 members, gen- 
erally chosen from the leading merchants. This Council 
includes twenty- six aldermen, each at the head of one of 
the twenty-six quarters of the City; then come the Sher- 
iffs, and finally the Lord Mayor, elected from the two al- 
dermen who have been chosen by the Liverymen, or mem- 
bers of the corporations. 

It is then that the masquerade of the 9th of November 
takes place, when the Lord Mayor goes to be installed in 
his office — formerly at Westminster, and now at the New 
Law Courts — accompanied by a procession, that has pre- 
served its mediaeval character. 

The Common Council is absolute master, and suffers no 
control; the Government has nothing to do with it. The 
Lord Mayor is absolute in his City; the Queen could not 
cross it without his permission, and the Guards would not 
dare to enter without his authority. 

Besides this official organization, the heads of each 
trade have united and formed corporations, that, from 
donations, bequests, etc., are richer than many of our 
municipalities. These corporations possess land that in 
the course of centuries has acquired enormous value. The 
fortune accumulated in their hands is employed in found- 
ing schools, colleges, asylums, hospitals; building markets, 
giving scholarships, and even, as you see, in an Academy 
of Music, all within sound of Bow Bells — that is to say, 
within the boundaries of this little kingdom of shopkeep- 
ers. The wealth of the corporations is so gigantic that 
some of their superfluous funds are distributed to other 
charities, or to poor institutions ; but the establishment 
thus created, and the charities they dispose of, are always 
for the benefit of their own members who have fallen into 
poverty, or who need assistance. 

The corporations are divided as follows: the Court, which 
administers the funds, and the Livery (this word indicates 



138 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

that the latter have the right to wear the costume of the 
corporation). The members of the Court are elected from 
among the Liverymen. When a place is vacated by death, 
the choice ought to fall in order of seniority on persons 
who belong to the trade of the corporation; but this is not 
done, and young members who do not belong to the busi- 
ness are often chosen, provided they are rich and influ- 
ential. The corporations were supposed to admit only 
persons of their own profession, but the sons of former 
merchants were afterwards accepted ; thus persons who 
had nothing to do with business could obtain this right, 
either by election, or for the modest sum of £100. Much 
value is set on belonging to one of these associations, and 
the Prince of Wales himself is a member of the Corpora- 
tion of Tailors. 

These corporations used to be called Guilds, whence 
the place where they meet receives the name of " Guild- 
hall." Some of them, such as the Crossbowmen, Rope- 
makers, etc., are now only traditional, their trades having 
disappeared; but they still exist as corporations. 

Besides their philanthropic institutions and other good 
works, these societies manifest their existence by the din- 
ners they give, and should the Municipal Government be 
changed there is at least this consolation for them, the din- 
ners may continue. Great wealth is displayed at these 
magnificent repasts. 

Conscious of the accomplishment of a great duty, the 
merchants of the City of London dine with the solemnity 
of priests performing their sacred functions. 

Another souvenir of feudal times are the Inns of Court, 
of which there are four : the Inner Temple and the Mid- 
dle Temple, which used to belong to the Knights Templars; 
Lincoln's Inn, which was the property of the Black Friars; 
and Gray's Inn, the primitive residence of Lord Gray. 
Once inns in reality, as students destined to the Law were 
formerly obliged to live there for three years, as students 



THE CITY AND THE LORD MAYOR. 139 

at Oxford and Cambridge still Lave to do, residence grad- 
ually became optional, and now students no longer live 
there at all, and the buildings are converted into lawyers' 
offices. But the students are still obliged to dine six times 
in a term in one of the special halls, where the table on 
the left is reserved for them, while the table on the right 
belongs to the barristers, who are not obliged to attend. 
Every one admitted to these fraternal feasts has to wear 
his wig and gown; even the waiters are still dressed up in 
their last-century costumes. The aim of these dinners, it 
appears, or rather the traditional intention of them, is to 
make sure of the presence of the students in London. 
These Inns resemble veritable monasteries, with their re- 
fectory, library, gardens, lodge-porters, and gates that are 
closed at ten o'clock. 

The Inns of Chancery are old colleges which have be- 
come societies of solicitors, who also only meet in order 
to dine. 

The Freemasons also have their temples in the City, but 
they are only restaurants, and the monthly meetings take 
place round a dinner-table. Charity is the only mission 
of Fi-eemasons in London, and they rival the City cor- 
porations in lavish generosity. During the last eleven 
years they have given £350,000 to three Masonic Institu- 
tions. 

Any pretext for giving a dinner is welcome to the Lord 
Mayor. First there is a certain number of official ban- 
quets, like that of the 9th of November, his coronation 
day; then dinners given to the winners of the Oxford and 
Cambridge boat race, to various societies, to extraordinary 
ambassadors, to noble foreigners, to members of Congress, 
etc. At these banquets an infinite number of speeches 
are made, the English excelling, as you know, in this kind 
of after-dinner eloquence. Ladies are admitted to most 
of the dinners at the Mansion House, even though they 
are forbidden other gastronomic exhibitions. 



140 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

I have not exhausted all the gayeties of the city by a 
long way; a biography of all the Lord Mayors would be 
one of the most delightful books in the world. But how- 
ever unwillingly, T must end this letter, to which I might 
have given the title of "Dinners." 






THE MIDDLE CLASS. 141 



Twenty-first Letter. 

THE MIDDLE CLASS. 

I have little to tell you about the middle class, except 
that it apes the aristocracy, but has fewer vices and more 
prejudices. 

" God and my right!" This is the motto of the English- 
man, to whatever class he may belong, and my right comes 
first, and God afterwards! A nation that defines itself by 
a coarse expression of care for personal interest, and for 
nothing else, how can it be anything but selfish ? An 
Englishman will never inconvenience himself in order not 
to inconvenience his neighbor. Many of them complain 
of this, but foreigners are the greatest sufferers from it. 
Yet it is wrong to say that the English are coarse and 
rude. Ill-educated Englishmen are so, and such may be 
found in the highest aristocracy. Well-educated English- 
men are coldly and punctiliously polite in an undemon- 
strative, calm way. This politeness exists even in the 
lowest classes, and there are many workmen with better 
manners than some lords. The worst impression of Eng- 
lishmen is given by their utter indifference to one another, 
and to every one whom they do not know. 

Prejudices are especially long-lived in England. One 
of these prejudices of English people is their love of dress. 
They must be en toilette; they dress when they get up, and 
know nothing of the delights of a dressing-gown and slip- 
pers. In the evening, at an hour when we resume those 
cherished garments, consecrated to ease and intimacy, 
they dress themselves up as if for parade or a village 
procession. 



142 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

This would be all very well when receiving guests; but 
no, Monsieur has no one with him but Madame, or perhaps 
he is dining absolutely alone, and yet he will put on even- 
ing dress before sitting down to table. You will not be- 
lieve me, but I swear that I have seen it. 

It is undeniable that the English are cold people; yet 
they are very fond of pleasure, and spend money on it 
recklessly ; but they take it in such an undemonstrative 
way that it seems extremely comical to us to hear them 
utter the customary phrase, "I enjoyed myself im- 
mensely." 

Besides the defective national education, there is very 
great ignorance, not of what is to be learned from books, 
for therein they are better informed than we are, but 
ignorance of the ordinary affairs of life, of the things 
learned no one knows how. It is the education that 
comes from things around us, from the outer world, from 
travel, and from general ideas that gives the polish to con- 
versation among Russians, French, and Austrians, which, 
without any profundity, enables them to shine in society. 

As I have mentioned education I will say one word 
more about it. Among the aristocracy young girls are 
taught by a resident governess and various professors, 
and sports, especially riding, are regarded as important 
studies. Schools are chiefly used by the middle class, and 
there are some very good ones ; but the majority are 
cramped by routine. When a lady engages a governess, 
she requires from a poor young girl everything that a 
human being could learn in a long lifetime — Latin, foreign 
languages, arts and sciences, every accomplishment; and 
her requirements are as great as the salary she offers is 
small. The Phoenix that a middle-class family requires 
is probably offered £25 a year. 

Young men have excellent schools, and complete their 
education at the celebrated Universities of Oxford, Cam- 
bridge, and Edinburgh. But even there sports are con- 



THE MIDDLE CLASS. 143 

sidered as important as study ; and to be first at foot-ball, 
cricket, or a boat-race, is quite as creditable as to win a 
scholarship or to take a degree. 

In sports the English are the masters of the world. 
Facts are more agreeable to their minds than thoughts, 
and their numerous talents are rather solid than brilliant. 
But they have one good quality, the opposite to our na- 
tional defect — they never speak without thinking. The 
national character can be best studied in the middle class, 
for there extremes, either of vice or virtue, do not exist. 
England is, "in short, a fine, great, and generous nation, 
exceedingly hospitable, and the popular prejudice against 
her in Russia and in France is profoundly unjust. 

Although formality reigns everywhere, there are some 
pleasant salons, and the middle class, which occupies a 
great position in London, offers much amusement to for- 
eigners, and makes them very welcome, provided they are 
people of culture. 

More money is spent on visitors here than anywhere 
else; there are more receptions given than in Russia or 
in France, and many people keep open house to their 
friends. Wealthy families receive every week, or at least 
every month, and crowd to all places of amusement. 

The English middle class does not possess estates, but 
each family rents a house in the country for the season, 
or goes to the sea-side. No one passes the whole year in 
London; the first sunshiny day produces a longing for "a 
little change," and an entire family packs up its trunks 
and departs. All the watering - places are not equally 
fashionable. Brighton attracts the fashionable world 
from October to December ; in the winter people go to 
Eastbourne, Ventnor, Torquay, Bournemouth, and in the 
autumn to Hastings, Folkestone, or Scarborough. Mar- 
gate and Ramsgate are much less elegant, and Southend, 
though it is a delightful little place, is only visited by 
people of slender means. 

10 



IU THE WORLD OF LONDON. 



Twenty second Letter. 

SOCIETY. 

In a city like London — the richest in the world, and 
where the conditions of fortune do not always accord 
with position and birth — society is a very vague expres- 
sion. The English themselves divide it into two parts, 
nobility and gentry, but between these two terms it is 
very difficult to decide the exact limits. 

England has several kinds of nobility: the grand old 
nobility of land and of the sword ; then the aristocracy 
of money. In a country where every man is the maker 
of his own fortune it is natural that there should be a 
great many titled parvenus. Then come the small fry — 
the modern lords, the new baronets, and knights. 

The " gentry " necessarily includes members of the 
fashionable world who have no titles, and the upper mid- 
dle class, great financiers, men who have made large fort- 
unes ; for if money does not make happiness it at least 
procures a very comfortable place in the world. 

The great number of people possessing large fortunes 
has caused divisions and distinctions that are extremely 
amusing. It is perfectly natural that a man possessing a 
hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year 
could not receive a poor fellow who had not more than a 
thousand a year — quite a beggarly sum in London. There 
would be too much difference in the entertainments given 
and received. The upper middle class delights in luxury 
and elegance, and only differs from the aristocracy by 
lack of title; the lower middle class is composed of men 



SOCIETY. 145 

with modest incomes (from two to four thousand a year), 
of City merchants, lawyers, doctors, etc. 

Below the upper and lower middle class there is a suc- 
cession of divisions and subdivisions until you reach lodg- 
ing-houses, furnished apartments, and shop parlors. It is 
a curious thing that there is much similarity in all these 
classes with regard to entertainments, with more or less 
etiquette as the rank of the host requires, and, as usual, 
the loAver you go the more amusement is to be found. 

These are the customs of society as regards parties : 
The invitations are given on a printed card with nothing 
but " Mrs. X. at home " on such a day. If it is a ball, there 
is the word "dancing" in the corner; if a musical even- 
ing, " music," and sometimes " theatricals ;" for society in 
England has a mania for drawing - room performances, 
without much regard to the talent of the performers. 

The card also often bears the information that Mrs. X. 
is " $X home " every Tuesday, or every Sunday (Sundays 
are getting very fashionable), or the first Monday in ev- 
ery month, etc., and that means that except on this par- 
ticular day she does not want to see you. Every lady 
has her weekly or monthly " day," when her friends ap- 
pear for a few minutes, drink a cup of tea, revile their 
neighbors, complain of their servants, and criticise the 
toilets of their dearest friends. 

The great defect of English society is the want of so- 
ciability; after six o'clock in the evening no one ventures 
to knock at his neighbor's door, unless he has been spe- 
cially invited. The charm of intimacy is lost in this iso- 
lation and in the crush of over-crowded parties. In the 
summer any one who possesses a garden is delighted to 
turn the "at home" into a "garden party." Invitations 
are given for the afternoon, just the same as for the even- 
ing, but there is very seldom any dancing at the recep- 
tions that are held between four and seven o'clock. 

In each house you find two large rooms, one devoted 



146 TIIE WORLD OF LONDON. 

to the inevitable music, and- the other to refreshments ; 
this room is literally besieged. Tea, coffee, lemonade, 
claret-cup, sherry, port, fruit of all kinds, cakes, sand- 
wiches, ices, and sometimes champagne — everything is to 
be found there ! 

In the drawing-room, so soon as an audience is assem- 
bled, one piece of music follows the other without leav- 
ing you time to make a single observation, or to answer a 
single question. It is a cueli-cuelo of amateurs who set 
your teeth on edge, and of professionals of all kinds. 
Singers are generally listened to, however dreadful theyi 
may be, and you cannot imagine how dreadful they are 
unless you have heard young girls who think they can 
sing after a dozen lessons, and men who sing without any 
lessons at all, people who never go out without their mu- 
sic, even to make a call, without style, without voice, 
without time, and without mercy, sighing forth romances 
in a perfectly unintelligible language. An Italian said to 
me the other day, " In our country, if an animal were to 
make a noise like that, we should wring its neck." 

As for the piano, it is understood to be a machine to 
set people talking, and as soon as the first notes are heard, 
conversation begins on all sides, and is only checked by 
the last chord. I heard a lady say to another after an 
artist had played very brilliantly, " She made such a noise | 
we couldn't hear ourselves speak." 

Evening parties never begin before ten o'clock, and in 
the higher circles they are soon over; every one has gone 
before twelve o'clock, unless it is a ball. These recep-j 
tions often follow a dinner, and form a pleasant conclu- \ 
sion to it. 

In the middle class, especially in its lower circles, par- 
ties are kept up very late, and the horrible music goes on 
forever. Between eleven and twelve the lady of the 
house makes a quiet little sign to the gentlemen, and un- 
derstanding what that means, each one offers his arm to a 



SOCIETY. 147 

lady, and takes her to the supper-room, where a magnifi- 
cent repast awaits them — meat, poultry, salmon, tongue, 
sandwiches, creams, cakes, fruit, etc. 

The soiree continues after the supper, and very often 
ends with a dance, when tired or useless people depart. 

At garden parties the scene is very much the same, 
only it takes place in a garden, and there are often games 
— croquet, lawn- tennis, etc.; but the music — the fright- 
ful music — that is never excluded ! A rival to music has 
lately appeared and become terribly popular, it is recita- 
tion. The infatuation is the more unfortunate as the re- 
citers have not the slightest idea of articulation or of 
elocution, make the most extraordinary gesticulations, ut- 
terly inappropriate to their subject, and always choose 
long pieces, either very silly or horribly dramatic. 

I have not wished to drag you through the maze of all 
the clubs, but I must say one word about the New Club, 
where the fashionable world assembles, including ladies, 
the only society club that has ever succeeded. The New 
Club, founded two years ago, has now 600 members; mu- 
sic is given every evening — real music. There is dancing 
two or three times a week, and charming little oyster- 
suppers are given after the play. Dramatic representa- 
tions by the first actors also take place on Saturday at 
midnight; Sara Bernhardt, Judic, and most of the French 
actors who came to London, often took part in these. 

The Bachelors' Club, where ladies are admitted to dine, 
is very inferior to the New Club. 



148 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 



Twenty-third Letter. 
co untr y- ho uses. 

The origin of many aristocratic families is by no means 
glorious; the descendants of the old aristocracy of the 
sword are now rare. Many whose titles date from the 
reign of Queen Anne and the time of the Georges were 
only the sons of courtesans or of people of the lowest 
class, and have been raised more by the changes of time 
than by their own desert. 

Sir Philip Francis, as Lord Malmesbury tells us, under- 
took to destroy every line of succession, by proving clear- 
ly that not a single English nobleman was the descend- 
ant of his ancestors ; and no doubt, if too closely exam- 
ined, many genealogies would fall to pieces like a house 
of cards. 

The aristocracy of finance replaced the aristocracy of 
the sword; titles are more fairly obtained in our days, 
and the private life of the nobility is purer. 

Among noble politicians are Lord Rosebery and Lord 
Stanhope; the latter is a Conservative, and enjoys univer- 
sal esteem. Then come the circles of Sir Arthur Hayter, 
a Liberal, of Lord Harrington, and of the Duke of Suth- 
erland — though the Duke is more interested in social 
questions than in politics. The financial circles are those of 
the Rothschilds, of Mrs. Oppenheim, Mrs. Bischoffsheim, 
etc. Among other fashionable salons I must mention 
those of the Duke of Westminster, the Marchioness of 
Santurce, Sir Allen Young, of Mr. Harford, and Sir Al- 
gernon Borthwick, the proprietor of the Morning Post, 
who is so well known in Paris. As for musical circles, 



COUNTRY-HOUSES. 149 

like that of the charming Lady Folkestone, it would .take 
more than a lifetime to count them. 

There are also some leaders of society who lend their 
houses for meetings, and devote themselves to some spe- 
cial work, like the Duchess of Sutherland, whom I have 
already named, the patroness of teetotalers and the Blue 
Ribbon Army. Then come vegetarians, spiritualists, anti- 
vaccinationists, anti - vivisectionists, cremationists, theo- 
sophic circles, like that of Mr. Sinnett, aesthetic ones, like 
that of Mr. Oscar Wilde, and those more practical and 
more charitable ones devoted to the protection and emanci- 
pation of women. Viscountess Harberton, Lady Brassey, 
Mrs. Fawcett, and Mrs. Stuart Mill, are at the head of this 
movement, while the Princess of Wales, Miss Florence 
Nightingale, Viscountess Strangford, preside over the meet- 
ings of the Red Cross Society, which take place at Lans- 
downe House, the residence of Lord and Lady Rosebery. 

It is in his country-house that the English aristocrat 
displays luxury unrivalled in all Europe. I should like 
to give you a full description of life in these great coun- 
try-houses, but it would take a volume to do justice to 
the theme. 

Every great English house has its legend, and I am 
sorry that I can only mention the names of the most re- 
markable among them. The vast and sumptuous domain 
of Trentham is the residence of the Duke of Sutherland; 
Lord Bath occupies Longleat, the finest example of the Eliz- 
abethan style ; Lord Hardwiek possesses Wimpole ; the 
Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, the most modern of 
houses, and utterly tasteless, although it possesses every- 
thing that comfort and luxury can devise. Blenheim be- 
longs to the Duke of Marlborough. The three finest 
seats in Yorkshire, and built about the same time, are: 
Castle Howard, the seat of the Earl of Carlisle; Duncan 
Park, recently burned, the seat of Lord Faversham; and 
Harewood, that of Lord Harewood. 



150 THE WORLD OP LONDON. 

The loveliest park of all these lordly domains is Nor- 
manton, the property of Lord Aveland. Warwick Castle, 
seated on a rock, and believed to have been built by the 
famous Warwick, the King-maker, belongs to Lord War- 
wick, and is unrivalled in its beauty, except, perhaps, by 
Windsor Castle. It has towers 147 feet high, state apart- 
ments more than 300 feet long, and the celebrated War- 
wick vase of white marble, found at Tivoli, that will hold 
163 gallons. 

Goodwood, well known for its celebrated races, belongs 
to the Duke of Richmond; Chatsworth to the Duke of 
Devonshire, the father of Lord Hartington. Witley 
Court is the residence of Lord Dudley ; Badminton, of 
the Duke of Beaufort; Lowther, of Lord Lonsdale; Arun- 
del Castle, of the Duke of Norfolk; and Alnwick, of the 
Duke of Northumberland. 

Very curious fetes are sometimes given at these coun- 
try-houses. Thus at Southam-de-la-Bere, the late seat of 
Lord Ellenborough, an ancient custom was revived in the 
month of February. Miss Sergison, as Queen Elizabeth, 
received her guests in state, surrounded by courtiers, ban- 
ners, and heralds. A lord of misrule was crowned with 
pomp, and led the revels ; there was a masquerade and 
dancing, St. George and the Dragon, the Princess Rowe- 
na and the wassail - bowl, Druids and mistletoe, wooden 
horses, and a tournament presided over by the queen, a 
yule-log, and the procession of the boar's head at the be- 
ginning and at the end of the entertainment. 

In the month of August last Lady Archibald Campbell 
gave, at Coombe House, Kingston, a dramatic representa- 
tion that had to be repeated three times, and which all 
London rushed to see. Behind her gardens are woods 
that she transformed into a natural stage, and acted in the 
open air Shakespeare's "As You Like It," four acts of 
which take place in a forest. Light hangings fastened to 
the branches of the trees protected the audience from the 



COUNTRY-HOUSES. 151 

burning rays of the sun ; mosses and ferns replaced the 
footlights, side scenes and background were all natural, 
and had long vistas that the nature of the spot admirably- 
lent itself to. The entrances and exits, the gradual re- 
treat of the actors among the trees, the sound of voices 
dying away in the distance, the strange effect of the cho- 
ruses in the forest, the rays of soft light breaking through 
the sombre foliage, the gentle sounds of the country, the 
cries of birds, the rustling of the leaves, stirred by a light 
breeze, the perfume of this living, animated nature, all 
combined to make a fairy scene. 

Lady Archibald played Orlando, and a few amateurs 
took part, but the principal characters were intrusted to 
well-known actors. 

When there is no fete going on at a country-house the 
day passes somewhat in this fashion. From 9.30 to 10.30 
people come down to breakfast, and as soon as the mistress 
of the house appears no one else is waited for. After break- 
fast the party separates, and each person occupies himself 
as he likes best until two o'clock. The ladies write let- 
ters, or collect in the drawing-room with their needle- 
work ; the gentlemen walk about and amuse themselves 
as best they can. At two o'clock luncheon is served, at 
three the carriages appear — wagonettes, landaus, vic- 
torias, saddle-horses, etc., etc. Each one chooses the mode 
of locomotion that suits him best, and off they go. At 
five o'clock every one is back again for tea, over which 
they gossip till 6.30; then they dress for the seven o'clock 
dinner, and the evening is devoted to music, whist, con- 
versation, and work: nothing can be more simple. 



152 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 



Twenty-fourth Letter. 
the diplomatic body. 

During the last thirty years great changes have taken 
place in the Diplomatic Service. Ambassadors are now 
little more than employes, except in the case of Russia; 
she still has diplomats, and uses them. In London the 
foreign ambassadors are changed so often that they have 
not time to make their way in society, and society has not 
time to know them. Those who give large parties suc- 
ceed in making a position for themselves, but except M. 
Van de Weyer, Count Karolyi, and M. de Staal, few am- 
bassadors have become intimate with the members of the 
English aristocracy. 

M. and Mme. de Falbe, of the Danish Embassy, are 
friends of the Princess of Wales on account of their na- 
tionality. M. Waddington has not succeeded in society, 
and the French ambassadors are so often changed that 
they only enjoy a momentary popularity, even when they 
obtain so much. Count Herbert Bismarck and Count 
Pourtales have an important place in society. The am- 
bassadors live in a world of their own, an official world. 
The senior ambassador in London, who therefore has the 
right of precedence, is Musurus Pasha, seventy - seven 
years of age, and since 1851 the representative of the Ot- 
toman Porte. Born in Candia, he was governor of Sa- 
mos, and had a sufficiently stormy youth. His skill and 
energy won him the post of ambassador at Vienna, and 
afterwards at London. He came here during the Crime- 
an War, and managed so well that he was made ambas- 
sador in 1856, was decorated at the conclusion of the ne- 



THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. 153 

gotiations at Paris, and received the title of Pasha on the 
occasion of the Sultan's visit to London. The opposition 
of the Porte to the conclusion of the Protocol of the 
Powers, drawn up in 1877 at the Conference at Constan- 
tinople, is attributed to his influence. He is a man who 
sleeps with one eye open, and that eye is always turned 
to the Black Sea. Very active, in spite of his languid 
manners, he is the most important ambassador in London 
with regard to the interests of England in the East. 

After him must come Count Minister, the ambassador 
who represents Germany, but is more English than Ger- 
man, for he was born in London, and his children are also 
English born. He may be seen twice a day driving in 
Rotten Row ; he has very good horses and a four - in- 
hand, and takes more interest in sport than in diplomacy. 
Brought up in English habits, he has never lost them, 
although he was educated at Bonn. 

The next in order is Count Karolyi, but as Ambassador 
of Austria he has rather an insignificant part to play. 
The Countess is a remarkable woman and universally re- 
spected. She is of the true Hungarian type, with grand 
manners and the carriage of an empress. 

Count Nigra, known to all Paris as the " Chevalier Ni- 
gra," has recently come to London. Serving as a volun- 
teer, he was wounded at the battle of Rivoli, and as a sec- 
retary of Cavour's he has been intrusted with so many 
different missions that he may be looked upon as a diplo- 
matist of the old school. I know him very well, and 
have seen him more than once in Russia, where he was 
sent immediately after he left Paris in 1876. Wherever 
he goes he does good to Italy, and his embassy to France 
was very advantageous to his own country. Clever, 
patient, and attractive, he has a clear, resolute mind, has 
the right idea at the right moment, and foresees events 
with the greatest accuracy. 

In London Count Nigra is much liked, and is esteemed 



154 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

as a writer, an orator, and a savant. His works on the 
dialects of popular Italian poetry are much valued. The 
action of his Government on the Red Sea will give Count 
Nigra an important part to play in London. 

I need not sketch the portrait of M. Waddington, the 
French Ambassador in London. Having an English fa- 
ther, having been educated in England, and being a 
Protestant, this accomplished diplomatist of fifty-seven 
years of age could not fail to be persona grata to the 
English public. 

Count Pourtales, with his bright, intelligent little face, 
"little Pourtales," as the ladies call him, is the member of 
the French Embassy who is most popular in society. 

M. de Staal, the Russian Ambassador, is a person of 
charming manners and the most perfect courtesy ; in 
choosing him M. de Giers knew what he was about. Very 
well informed, accustomed to society, with a great expe- 
rience of business, at once master of himself, and possess- 
ing much influence with others, a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Moscow, he was secretary to several embassies, 
in 1869 was named Chamberlain of the Court, and subse- 
quently was minister at Wurtemburg. He only arrived 
in London a few months ago, but conquered society at 
once. M. de Staal has the most exquisite politeness and 
imperturbable urbanity. He excels in the art of persuad- 
ing, and is just the fascinating person required at this dif- 
ficult moment to appease the irritation that has arisen be- 
tween the two countries, to make himself agreeable to the 
English people, please society, and perhaps prevent war. 
De Staal is an exquisite talker, and no one listens so well 
or has such a graceful manner of appearing to share your 
opinions. 

Except Prince Malcolm Khan, the other diplomatists 
are Ministers or charges- d'affaires, with comparatively 
little importance in the politics of to-day; but the Persian 
Minister is interested in the burning questions of the mo- 



THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. 155 

ment, and has frequent interviews with Lord Granville. 
The Prince is a clever diplomatist, deliberate and prudent; 
he listens before he speaks, and he speaks with great judg- 
ment and good-sense. 

Although his country has not hitherto been concerned 
in the politics of Europe, Prince Malcolm Khan has held 
an important position in England since the visit of the 
Shah. He is, indeed, a faithful representative of his sov- 
ereign, and has rendered great services to his country. 
Persia may soon have to play a part in the conflict in 
Afghanistan, and its embassy in London may acquire con- 
siderable importance. Malcolm Khan is such a far-seeing 
diplomatist that, without knowing him personally, I con- 
sider him one of the real politicians of Persia, who pre- 
fer an alliance with Russia to a rupture, and who under- 
stand that the weak always obtain more from a friend than 
from an enemy. In society the Prince displays the most 
agreeable manners, and has all the dignity of his rank 
without any haughtiness. His wife is the personification 
of grace, and their house is most hospitable. The Prin- 
cess is young, lovely, enthusiastic, and brilliant. 

Her daughter, a brunette, a charming contrast to the 
pale beauties of the North, is a true little princess. She 
is well educated, and gifted with exquisite tact, delicacy, 
and good taste. 

I will not speak of the Belgian Minister, whose task is 
easy so long as Antwerp is not menaced ; of the Dutch 
Minister, or of Mr. Russell Lowell, a charming, humorous 
American, more of an author than an ambassador. There 
are others, also, who would not interest you. 

In English politics, money, the universal factor, plays, 
as it does everywhere, and perhaps more than it does any- 
where else, a very important part. Financiers are the real 
sovereigns of modern Europe, and, except in Russia and 
Germany, it is they who make peace and war. 

Napoleon said that England was. a natiom of shop- 



156 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

keepers. Some people take this as an insult, others as a 
compliment; but however we take it, the remark is just, 
and a fitting homage to the practical nature of the people. 
Every Englishman, from the meanest to the mightiest, is 
a born man of business, and knows how to profit by op- 
portunities that others would allow to escape. The aris- 
tocracy no longer hesitates to take part in manufactures 
and in commerce. In London the Jews rule all the mar- 
kets; the City is entirely in their hands. 

The aristocracy of finance, as represented by the Bar- 
ings, and especially by the Rothschilds, is equal to the 
nobility of the sword, and society opens its doors to it. 
Some alliances have been made between the ancient fam- 
ilies and the great bankers. The most important one 
hitherto is the marriage of Lord Rosebery with Miss 
Rothschild. The chiefs of English finance live in a brill- 
iant, ostentatious manner, and spend their money as they 
gain it, in a large way. 

Great brewers and great builders patronize public- 
houses, theatres, and other more or less fortunate specu- 
lations. Commerce has nothing to do with the highest 
banking business ; paper is discounted and sold to houses 
that are simply called merchants, like Mr. Layard, Mr. 
Devaux, etc. 

Among the princes of finance, the dynasty of the Roths- 
child has become the reigning house, or I ought rather to 
say that the Rothschilds, with their different branches, 
have founded a " United States " of money. It was the 
Rothschilds who, when consulted by Lord Beaconsfield 
about his intention of buying £25,000,000 worth of shares 
in the Suez Canal, kept the money ready for him, and thus 
enabled him to accomplish his unexpected and audacious 
stroke of policy by telegraph, and in a few hours. 

There are from fifteen to twenty names to be mention- 
ed in the aristocracy of finance — the Rothschilds ? Baring, 
Goschen, Oppenheim, Bischoffsheim, etc. 



THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. 157 

The Rothschild family in London, as everywhere else, 
stands at the head of financial society, and has one of the 
best positions in the great world, the artistic world, and 
on the turf. The Rothschilds are everywhere, and they 
are everything. 

Ferdinand and Alfred Rothschild enjoy a real sov- 
ereignty, and are admired, as they deserve to be, for 
their royal munificence. They give magnificent fetes, 
and their houses, their country-seats, their receptions, and 
their studs and packs are unrivalled in England. Nathan- 
iel, who owns the splendid manor of Tring Park, is per- 
haps the most in society of the four. Leo has just mar- 
ried the sister of Mrs. Sassoon. 

Alfred Rothschild, the son of Lionel, has a fine mus- 
tache, mutton - chop whiskers, a slightly bald head, and 
elegant manners ; in everything he looks and is a perfect 
gentleman. He is now just forty-one years of age. His 
mother, a very exceptional woman, made him study at 
Cambridge, and was anxious, as she told me one day, that 
her son should have a modern mind. He learned busi- 
ness from his father, and has become one of the most 
influential directors of the Bank of England, and Consul- 
general for Austria. His principal duty is to represent 
the Rothschild family in society; this he does marvellous- 
ly well, receiving princes and interviewing ambassadors. 
He knows everybody, and everybody knows him ; he is 
an admirable host. 

Leopold, the youngest son of Baron Lionel, is thirty- 
nine years old ; like his brother he studied at Cambridge, 
and his function is to represent the family in sport ; so he 
belongs to the Jockey Club and the Turf Club, and owns 
Palace House at Newmarket. He is a great sportsman, 
and although not always lucky on the turf, he won the 
Derby with Sir Bevis in 1879. He is a very generous, 
agreeable man, and he gives unrivalled dinners. 

Baron Ferdinand has three country-seats, Waddeston, 



158 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

Aylesbury, and Manor House. The Dowager Lady Roths- 
child lives at Aston Clinton. 

Sir Albert Sassoon — I have mentioned his alliance with 
the Rothschilds — is the descendant of an old Jewish fami- 
ly of Mesopotamia, for a long time resident at Bagdad. 
The immense market of India attracted Sir Albert Sassoon 
to that country, and in the opium trade he soon became a 
Nabob. Albert was known as "the Rothschild of India," 
and in Bombay he erected hospitals and alms-houses, and 
raised an equestrian statue to the Prince of Wales. Then 
he came to England, and devoted himself to banking oper- 
ations. He was well received here, became attached to 
the country, and has since deserted his fairy palaces which 
he possesses in India, preferring his magnificent mansion 
at Kensington. 

Generous, popular, with a keen, original mind, this ami- 
able, calm old man of sixty-seven years lives only to do 
good and exercise princely munificence. 

The Bischoff sheims, who came from Holland, owe their 
fortune to the establishment of a line of pigeons between 
Paris and Amsterdam. 

I have already spoken of Mr. Baring, Lord Northbrook, 
whose honored name, like that of all his family, has always 
been a credit to the highest ranks of English finance. 
The whole world is acquainted with the great financial 
operations of the Barings, and the history of their millions 
is well known, from those lent to Louis Philippe down to 
our own day. They are bankers to the Queen. 

Viscount Baring, Lord Northbrook's only son, is thirty- 
four years of age ; he has served in the Rifle Brigade 
and then in the Grenadier Guards ; and when his father 
was Viceroy of India he accompanied him as aide-de- 
camp. When he returned to Europe he devoted himself 
to politics, and entered Parliament as a Liberal ; and al- 
though he has not yet proved himself either an orator or 
a statesman, he is popular. 



THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. 159 

I come once more to Mr. Goschen. In Parliament he is 
the type of a model man of business, and one of those 
rare authors who successfully practise what they write. 
This he has done in the case of his " Theory of Foreign 
Exchanges." Too intelligent to persist in an ojiinion that 
meets with resistance, he is a sort of rallying-point in the 
House of Commons, neither a Conservative nor a Liberal, 
though he calls himself an Independent Liberal. His 
opinions exercise great authority, from the acknowledged 
ability and good-sense on which they rest. A man of the 
world, with courteous manners and attractive conversa- 
tion, he is perfect on all points of social intercourse. 

The Goschens are descended from a German family, 
which founded in London the well-known bank of Friih- 
ling and Goschen ; there are no more Friihlings now, and 
the bank is managed by the three brothers of the ex-Min- 
ister, all three very distinguished men. 
11 



1G0 TUE WOULD OF LONDON. 



Twenty-fifth Letter. 
sport. 

An Englishman is a born sportsman, and from the be- 
ginning to the end of his life practises some of these 
physical exercises that build up his vigorous constitution. 
The boy at school has foot-ball and cricket, young girls 
play at tennis and at croquet; and the fair daughters of 
Albion are most graceful when throwing the ball and 
handling the racket. 

When the boy becomes a man he still plays cricket, 
and in summer all London society assembles at " Lord's," 
and watches every stroke of the game with an interest 
that I must confess myself incapable of understanding. 
On the evening before the great cricket matches, peopki 
send their carriages to take possession of a good place, 
and on the grand day spend many hours watching the 
rather innocent little game of throwing a ball at three lit- 
tle posts stuck in the ground, while the other side tries to 
send it away. The principal players are well known, and 
are treated like victorious generals on a field of battle, 
and a ball vigorously sent back by the opponent is greeted 
with rounds of applause. 

In London everybody rides, from the youngest to the 
oldest, and children who can hardly walk are taken out 
on horseback by their grooms. A foreigner in London 
should never fail to go to Hyde Park in the morning, 
When all the young Amazons of fashionable society dis- 
play their equestrian skill. Fishing is as eagerly prac- 
tised as hunting, and a good fishing lets for a very high 



SPORT. 161 

price. Trout and salmon are very abundant, and are the 
delight of a great number of ardent sportsman. 

The most popular English sport is hunting. One exam- 
ple will enable you to form an idea of the vast scale in 
which it is carried on. The Duke of Beaufort has the 
greatest number of race-horses, and possesses more stables 
than any one in England. In the hunting season he has 
from sixteen to twenty horses out every day, and not one 
of them is saddled more than twice a week. You should 
see his house at Badminton to understand what hunting 
means. He has three packs of hounds, each of twenty- 
two couples — that is to say, a hundred and thirty -two 
dogs. 

Hunting with the hounds is better in England than in 
any other country. There are 145 packs of fox-hounds 
and 115 packs of harriers; in Scotland, eight of the first 
and one of the second; in Ireland, eighteen of the first 
and thirty-seven of the others. And if you count the dogs 
kept for stag-hunting, there are 340 packs in England — 
that is to say, 11,000 couples of dogs, that with the hunts- 
men, grooms, etc., cost £600,000 a year. 

Among a people so pre-eminently nautical, regattas 
naturally hold a prominent place, and there are few rich 
Englishmen who do not possess some sort of boat — a yacht, 
a sailing-boat, or at least a rowing-boat. The English are 
the best swimmers in the world. You, no doubt, remem- 
ber the exploits of Captain Webb, who swam across the 
Strait of Dover, and afterwards met his death in the 
rapids of Niagara. Xo one can beat an Englishman at 
managing a boat. There are excellent institutions in Eng- 
land for the protection of shipwrecked people, admirably 
maintained by the personal courage of the sailors. 

The great national nautical display is the famous boat- 
race between Oxford and Cambridge. The students of 
these two universities elect from among themselves their 
captain and their crew; and after a trial of a few weeks 



162 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

on the Thames, the race takes place on the Saturday be- 
fore Passion Week at the south-west of London, in the 
presence of an excited, clamorous crowd. Oxford takes 
for its symbol dark blue, while pale blue represents Cam- 
bridge, and during the week that precedes the race every 
Englishman wears the color of the side he is backing. 
Coachmen put a blue bow on their whips and a cockade 
of the same color on their horses' heads; women wear 
dresses of the favorite color, and men put on cravats and 
little bits of ribbon to indicate their party. Yachts and 
boats of all kinds follow the race, and the river is crowded 
with thousands of small craft. The telegraph announces 
the result to journals that are ready to appear the moment 
the result is known. Hardly a minute after the conclu- 
sion of the race, flags of the victorious color are hoisted 
in town. Cheers rend the air, and the trains that take and 
carry away the crowd of spectators are packed as tightly 
as a box of sardines. It is a universal holiday; every- 
body is either Oxford or Cambridge, and in the evening 
the two crews dine with the Lord Mayor. 

The Boat-race, as it is called, and the races at Epsom 
are the two most popular sporting tournaments. On the 
Derby Day all business is suspended, and even the City 
is deserted. 

Ascot serves as a grand display of dress. The Princo 
of Wales goes semi-officially, and is present at the races 
during the whole of Ascot week. 

The Goodwood course belongs to the Duke of Rich- 
mond, and was formerly private. 

Nearer London there are Sandown and Kempton Park 
races, and finally the Derby, which all Parisians know 
nearly as well as their Bois de Boulogne. 

There are also the Liverpool races, when Lord Sefton 
holds his great receptions at his mansion of Croxteth. 

I must mention Punchestown races in Ireland, and then 
pass over all the less important ones. 



SPORT. 163 

Among the numerous racing-circles the most important 
are those of Lords Zetland, Cadogan, Alington, Falmouth, 
Rosebery, Hastings, Londonderry, Lascelles, Hartington, 
Suffolk, March, Westmoreland, and of Mr. James Low- 
ther ; of the Dukes of Portland, Westminster, St. Al- 
ban's, and Hamilton ; and, finally, those of Rothschild, 
Sir George Chetwynd, Mr. William Gerard, Mr. Chaplin, 
Mr. W. Craven, General Owen Williams, Captain Machell, 
and Caroline, Duchess of Montrose, who enters under the 
name of "Monsieur Manton." 

All sportsmen knew Admiral Rous, whose pen has so 
well delineated these "horsey" conflicts and who was 
called the "Dictator of the Turf." Lord Cadogan has 
written excellent things on the same subject, and may be 
said to have succeeded him. He is one of the stewards 
of the Jockey Club. 

The Jockey Club consists of seventy members, fifty- 
seven of whom belong, or have belonged, to one of our 
two legislative bodies, while twenty have held office as 
Ministers of the Crown. There is some difficulty in get- 
ting stewards; for Ministers in office cannot find time for 
it. But those who are out of office might certainly accept 
the post, as General Peel and the late Lord Derby have 
done. 

Lord Cadogan has tried to save racing from the dis- 
credit and degradation with which it is threatened, and 
there is now less jobbery and immorality than there used 
to be ; but the evil is still very great. To remedy it a 
legislation for the turf, that would extend and support 
the authority of stewards in evei'ything that concerns the 
arrangement of races, is wanted, At present the system 
universally adopted of giving power to the organizers of 
races and to jockeys much injures the authority of the 
Jockey Club, which is a kind of Parliament of the Turf. 
The stewards alone ought to make the arrangements and 
fix the dates of the meetings. The Jockey Club replies 



164 THE WORLD OF LONDON. 

to all attacks made upon it by facts and statistics. In 1 874 
there were 1873 races, in which 1965 horses took part. In 
1884 there were 1615 races, with 1982 horses. The first 
took place on 130 courses, and were the object of 185 
meetings; the last on 65 courses only, corresponding to 
136 meetings, which proves the success of the efforts made 
by the stewards of the Jockey Club to prevent the multi- 
plication of race-courses. 

At the last Derby, when the officers of the Horse Guards 
alone lost £75,000, the book-makers won £225,000 by col- 
lusion with the jockeys, who, not being able to bet on 
their own horses, back the horses they are not riding, and 
keep back their own to make their favorites win. 

When the Jockey Club detects these frauds they are 
punished severely; but it is very difficult to discover and 
to prevent them. 

Fred Archer himself, the most celebrated jockey in 
England, who is called "the tinman," has w T on about 1500 
races, more than £120,000. 

Here I must conclude. I have nothing extenuated, or 
set down aught in malice respecting the World of Lon- 
don, in which, as in every "world" all over the "wide, 
wide" one, there is much to condemn and much to ad- 
mire. 



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It surpasses all its predecessors. — N. Y. Tribune. 



A Dictionary of the English Language, Pronouncing, Etymological, 
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This may serve in great measure the purposes of an English cyclopaedia. It gives 
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A well-planned and carefully executed work, which has decided merits of its own, 
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A work of sterling value. It has received from all quarters the highest commenda- 
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